I've been using Ad-Aware since long (and not the free version). And I always thought at Lavasoft customers were important. But after I bought the Firewall I'm not sure anymore.
First, it seems there is no way to have a trial version of the Firewall before buying (and we all know that Firewalls can be problematic sometimes. I tried many before Lavasoft).
Second, I was quite sure that the Firewall was in Italian too (like Ad-Aware). But no, no Italian! (Ok, I dont have problems with English, I am not complaning for that, but think about those Ad-Aware users who dont speak or understand English fluently but are quuite sure - as I was - that also the Firewall is in Italian). (P.S. I was using Comodo Firewall in english but free. Besides the trust in Lavasoft, one main reason was to have a Firewall in Italian!).
And then the biggest stuff!
I installed the Firewall on my Vista (32-bit) and how many problems! At its startup the firewall was blocked (by Windows Defender?). I tried to start it but I didnt have any reaction, even if in Windows Security Center, it says that it was running. But anyway, everytime i started the pc, Lavasoft Firewall was blocked.
So I decided to uninstall it. The fodler was deleted, the voice was deleted among the installed programs, but you know what? In Windows Security Center, Windows Firewall was OFF and Lavasoft Firewall was ON...!! How can it be possible? No trace of Lavasoft Firewall anywhere (i also checked the registry, but no Lavasoft folder there!). It meant to me that the computer "was thinking" to be protected by a firewall but actually it was NOT. Do you have an idea of how dangerous can be all that?? I have a outer, a home network, dsl wi-fi connection... and my computer WAS not protected!
I made long searches on the net to find a solution but no way. The only things i found took me to the Lavasoft FAQs and certainly they dont help.
So I contacted the support but no answer yet. I think this situation should be considered a big alert, but maybe they are too busy at Lavasoft to answer quickly.
Whatever. I felt cheated a bit too much by Lavasoft and I think this is the last time I will use a program of theirs.
Alessandro Pelusi
P.S. A suggestion: prepare an uninstaller tool. Best way to make us safe with your programs...