I recently purchased and installed ad-aware pro 2008..........the thing is. the settings that I establish keep changing....this can happen in any of the features.there seems to be no pattern to it. I received an email from tech support which suggested I delete my "settings.aww" file (which is probably corrupted according to the email), download the software update and reboot my computer. I tried this twice and it made absolutely no difference.anyone have a suggestion?........maybe I should just uninstall it completely and reinstall from a fresh download???

any help much appreciated

Hey dofrdo

Try to clean you pc with the ccleaner http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
And run registry scan and fix errors (don't forget to make bake up of the registry ccleaner will prompt you for this)
then reboot the pc and reinstall ad-aware from a fresh download.And then don't forget to klik on save if you change the settings in ad-aware.
Greetings

Hey Dives82

Thanks very much for your suggestion. I downloaded the "ccleaner" , tried it out and reinstalled ad-aware. Ad-aware works perfectly now and my computer seems to run generally better over all. According to "ccleaner", there was alot of errors in my registry........Now that adaware is running correctly, I am seeing that a specific windows application called "winlogon" is constantly trying to make changes to my registry. Sometimes I have a "Q" of over 60 items that I am suppose to indicate if they are to be blocked or allowed. I really like the way my systems general performance has improved since using "ccleaner" so I don't want to make changes to my registry unless I have to. Consequently, I have been blocking them all for the time being. I have probably blocked over 100 attempts by winlogon to alter my registry and my computer is still running as smooth as silk. I really want to find out what all these attempts are trying to do and if in fact they are really nessesary...do u know of any data base or other resource that can help me determine this?............I have posted this question in another forum as well.

thanks again

I downloaded a program called "ccleaner" which fixes errors in your computer registry. I did this because the settings I established in ad-aware pro were constantly changing every time I looked at them and it was suggested I clean up my registry. Well, it work like a charm however, I am now seeing via "ad-watch" that a specific windows application called "winlogon" is constantly trying to make changes to my registry. Sometimes I have a "Q" of over 60 items that I am suppose to indicate if they are to be blocked or allowed. I really like the way my systems general performance has improved since using "ccleaner" so I don't want to make changes to my registry unless I have to. Consequently, I have been blocking them all for the time being. I have probably blocked over 100 attempts by winlogon to alter my registry and my computer is still running as smooth as silk. I really want to find out what all these attempts are trying to do and if in fact they are really nessesary...does anyone have some knowledge of this and or know of any data base or other resource that can help me determine this?...........I don't use "internet explorer" I use "firefox".

thanks for any help

A component of the Windows operating system that provides interactive logon support. Winlogon is designed around an interactive logon model that consists of three components: the Winlogon executable, a Graphical Identification and Authentication dynamic-link library (DLL) referred to as the GINA, and any number of network providers. Winlogon is not supported in Windows Me/98/95. [Source: MSDN Library]

I don't known if you should allow it of denny it so wait to the answer on the another forum
Greetings

Hello dofrdo
as a user with a paid licence you're entitled to full professional customer support.
Feel free to use the link at the end of my sign. for your first login.
If you can't get any contact <> pls post back.
Cheerio
Raziel

Hello Raziel

Thank-you for the link but I have contacted Lavasoft support already about this. Their suggestion is that I google these types of programs as a means to decide if they are legitimate or not........That doesn't help me a whole lot in this instance because I am assuming that "winlogon" is in fact a lagitimate function. My core questions are:

1) Are all the changes that this lagitimate function wants to make to my regerestry going to slow my computer down either immediately or over time??

2) If so, can I block "winlogon" without causing other problems to occur??

3) If doing this will cause other problems to occur, are these problems attached to spoecific programs/applications?? - my thinking here is that I may not even be using these affected programs so who really cares.

I have now block about 500 attempts by winlogon to change my regestry. I use a wide verity of applications both on and off line and I have detected nothing but smooth functioning post "winlogon's" attempts to alter my registry.

thanks for your response

If you scan your computer with anti-virus etc programs then winlogon is legit.

I wouldn't recommend blocking it at all. It is a windows component and so should generally be left alone. If you go to Ad-Watch then click on trusted programs, if you see it there then click it until a green tick is shown. You will no longer receive pop-ups when winlogon changes your registry.

I agree that support's answer isn't great, but they obviously can't pass judgement on all cases. I do think, however that Ad-Watch should already be pre-programmed with safe processes.

Casey

Hi again

process name : winlogon / winlogon.exe *

producer : Microsoft Corporation *

belongs to : Microsoft Windows *

Virus/Spyware: No *

* (by FrankN.com )

winlogon is the Windows Log On Service, you should allow it.

For further information have a look to this.
Hope this helps
Raziel