I decided to make it real easy for the Lavasoft Team to answer the question that many of us Win98/ME users want an answer to: Will Def updates for Ad-Aware SE 1.0.6 still be made available? You would think that after many of use howled loudly at the beginning of year that we wanted our Def updates continued that we would have this support for the rest of the year, at least. If SpyBot S&D is going to continue to support Win98/ME, and they certainly are no larger firm than LavaSoft, why cant' we get the same level of support?

In short Ad-Aware SE is no longer supported. However, there will be continuing updates for the meantime because some other programs and business users use the anti-spyware engine in SE. So Lavasoft will occasionally offer updates.

There is no gaurentee on how long they will continue to do so.

Hope that clarifiies a little.

Is Win98/ME capability included in the current updates? For the last few weeks, the updates haven't worked on my Win98. It would be nice if Lavasoft just answered a simple question from a user.

I think it's now time to move on to another Spyware Checker that still supports 98SE and ME, werewolf! I say this with much regret, but the way this whole problem has been handled by Lavasoft has been very shabby to say the least. Several of us have highlighted the current problems experienced by older OS users over the past 3 weeks, only to be answered by moderators/valued members saying things like "SE has expired, please upgrade to AAW200X". This implies that they have not even bothered to read the thread properly, as the people experiencing these problems are simply unable upgrade! The only person who's actually taken time to read the details and understand our current difficulties has been CalamityJane.

There's also been a problem with over zealous moderators deleting posts/threads due to tetchy impasses and differences of opinion thereby destroying the flow of the debate and thus hindering attempts to clarify what's going on.

Whilst CJ's current thinking appears to be leaning towards the physical size of current reference files being the root of the problem (as suggested by your humble narrator!) the problem has dragged on with no end in sight. With the resources available to Lavasoft surely it would be easy to install Windows 98 on a machine and attempt to highlight what's causing the problem, even if they don't have it installed somewhere already.

Already several members have moved on. And for every person who's posted to say that they're off there must be several who've just read what's happening and then done the same. From the point of view of user loyalty, Lavasoft has proverbially shot itself in the foot.

I genuinely wish that I could help you guys with Win98...but all that I can offer is a zip of the last defs.file that actually worked for Win98 - SE1R247 13 May 2008.

I've sent this zip to three posters via email, and they've all installed it successfully and thanked me...a fourth refused to accept attachments via email (wisdom versus paranoia - whatever).

I'm assuming that people are still trying the latest defs.files - as I discovered here, with NO announcement, SE for XP went Pete Tong and then repaired itself...and I suspect through no malice of forethought or planning.

Again, I'm sorry not to be of any further help....

Jaheira is absolutely right.

At this point, Lavasoft could care less, about all us Windows 98 & ME users.

Admin LS CalamityJane said, Lavasoft is not purposely, corrupting the manual Ad-Aware SE updates, but I think he's full of it.

He's just being a good company employee, and he's telling us that BS, when he knows, if Lavasoft really wanted to fix the problem, they could, and they would. But the fact of the matter is, they're not going to, because they don't want to. And that's the bottom line.

As a matter of fact, they were the ones, who corrupted all the manual updates, so they would not work, on all our older Windows 98 or ME systems.

All companies do sleazy stuff like that, when they do not want to continue support, on a product, that has been discontinued, by their company.

I predict, that every future manual Ad-Aware SE update (from now on), will continue to be corrupted, and will continue to not work, on our older Windows 98 or ME systems.

That's their way of telling you, we really do not care about you anymore. Please find another product to use, and do not bother us anymore.

I really wish Lavasoft had not ended things this way.

Because it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I have lost a lot of respect for them, as a company.

It's time to move on, Windows 98 & ME users.

Because Lavasoft, will no longer support you.

I'm running Ad-Aware SE personal on my two home computers using Windows 98 SE. Your advice to upgrade to Ad-Aware 2007 or 2008 goes completely into the void
since the new Ad-Aware versions do no longer support w98se. Up until a couple of weeks I succeeded at least to manually update the defs.ref successfully. Since then the update
file on the blog page explicitly marked for SE always leads to a corrupted defs.ref file. Did you do this deliberately in order to finally kill SE usage, or is the employee
preparing the file not properly educated to perform this task, or is the conversion to the SE version so complicated?

I whould appreciate an honest answer since I'm definitely NOT going to upgrade my MS Windows98 SE version only to be able to run Ad-Aware.
Otherwise it's going to be Spybot SD and (sorry) good bye to Lavasoft.

Cheers,
Manfred Jainz

Is it entirely true? ...that LS are no longer supplying the SE defs files?
It does show the most recent issue date 27.05.2008?
The corrupt file may just include an invalid thread, or definition they have not spotted/checked?

If this is the case, LS are indeed shooting themselves, but not content with just the one foot.... they have continued to alienate all previous Windoze users, forcing no other options, but to find an alternative. I am certainly not ready to update my OS as yet, as with other users, and LS should note this.

Also may I add here, (and you've most likely heard this one before also?), I have never had a single problem or issue with LS-SE, (apart from the recent corrupt defs file). This shows the existing stability of the software is top notch, and no patches or bug updates are required - all we need is continued defs files updates - I mean, is this too much to ask?

Like all 3rd party software providers, once MSoft decides not to support it's previous Operating Systems, (and thus any further bugs and security breaches with them), then so too, 3rd parties are also keen to dispel with any support for them.
And in whole, they are correct to do this, (how can they possible support software problems with an OS that even the manufacturer has washed it's hands with?)

However, it cannot be of great difficulty to continue the support for previous Windows/SE users with defs files until they are ready to update? this only shows good business sense?

Is it that difficult to produce a new defs update for SE?

Again, I am more than happy with the functions and capabilities of SE, so please Lavasoft, continue to support this product. And I will return the favour and support you.



ps. lets hear it for CalamityJane, "you are the one".... !!

The problem with the SE updates for Win98 and ME users is within the program and has to do with the size of the definition files for those operating systems. Because SE hasn't been in development for some time now, there is no fix. So while the updates are there, you won't be able to load them. Updates for SE will soon discontinue at some point anyway as announced Dec. 31, 2007.

If you have a current SE license you really need to upgrade now to Ad-Aware 2008 which should be available in the Support Center:
http://lavasoft.com/support/supportcenter/

That's a bunch of crap, Admin LS CalamityJane, and you know it.

The 2 previous manual SE updates (that worked with our older Windows 98 & ME systems), were basically the same size, as the last 3 (that have now been purposely corrupted by Lavasoft).

Why weren't there any problems, with those 2 other previous updates?

You know Lavasoft purposely corrupted them, so they would not work, on our older 98 & ME systems.

You're lying about it now, and you're trying to cover up the truth, about what the real reason is, why the manual updates, won't work on our older 98 & ME systems.

And that is what really upsets me, and causes me to think less, of Lavasoft as a reputable company.

At this point, it would be better, if you just removed the Ad-Aware SE manual update link, from the Lavasoft Research Blog.

That way, we could just move on to one of your other competitors anti-spyware products, since Lavasoft, no longer wants to support us anymore.

This is just getting plain nasty...!

dachien - if as you demand, SE Updates are removed from the LavaSoft Research Blog, then what about the people who use SE with XP / Win2K etc....?

Selfish much, IMHO...!

I used to be a Win98 user. I was forced to move on to XP, and I too am losing SE...! Not as fast as you, acknowledged...but I'm losing it nonetheless.

I am coping - gamma testing AAW 2008 is both a struggle and a challenge, but we're going for it.

Once I was a Win95 user, and I hated Win 98....

And I STILL run Atari's....! MEGA4's (2 off) for MIDI applications....

I sympathise with your situation, I really do...but don't leave a sour taste in the mouth for everyone - posters, readers, Win98 / Win2K / XP users alike....please.

I'm starting to doubt this file size problem too!

If there's a maximum reference file size limit in built into Ad-Aware SE, then it should apply regardless of the operating system being used, unless of course, someone has specifically made it larger or dynamic for XP whilst not for 98SE and ME.

SE1R246 was 3160kB in size. How big was the final file to work SE1R247? There's nothing special about 3200KB in FAT32 operating systems, so if file size is the problem, it must be an internal issue with Ad-Aware SE that's also operating system specific.

http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=18269

I simply don't understand why this thread has been locked!

It encapsulated the current impasse and attempts at people embedded in that impasse to highlight their plight so as to better understand the problem. Locking it just served to stifle the debate at best, or silent it at worst.

I earlier brought to light the problem of over-zealous moderators, but now I'm starting to believe that the term dictatorial would be more accurate.

There is no debate. Support and development of SE ended 6 months ago. Period. There will be no forthcoming fixes to SE as announced many times earlier. Merging this to the other thread and closed.