The Ad-Watch Icon on taskbar will not go away even when you check the "Hide taskbar icon" on the settings. My last reply to a similar post was closed because I thought that I had solved the issue but NOW the Taskbar Icon from hell is back with a vengeance!

This version of Ad-Aware is extremely intrusive and infringes with my privacy right. Every software must allow the user to manipulate it at will and disable any part of the program that he will not use. In this case on this specific version the Ad-Aware program has been interlocked (on purpose??) with the AdWatch feature meaning that unless the AdWatch Icon remains on taskbar the Ad-Aware program will not function at all (the program interface won't even open).

I don;t like this version atall and i am thinking on uninstalling it and reverting to the 2008 version unless I find some aceptable solution because since I don't use or need the AdWatch feature (have other more effective programs) the Icon and the service are wasting CPU resources.

Let's start again
What O/S is installed ?

install 'Revo uninstaller'*
and REBOOT

open Revo / Tools
click the 'Autorun Manager'
maximize the tableau, make a screenshot and copy/paste it in your next reply.
We'll proceed if I have had a look into your Autostart list.

Raziel

Hi Raziel and thanks for replying. I use Windows XP Pro (Vista sucks!) and I have Your Uninstaller 2009 (another equivalent to Revo uninstaller) that completely uninstalls any program ( and I also after reboot do a search for all files with the name of the uninstalled program and then to the registry and delete the main folder of the program (if it is there still) so I am not going to keep wasting my time with this new version where they made the Ad-Aware program and the Ad-Watch monitor inter-dependent of each other and you don't have any option to prevent the Ad-Aware and the Adwatch services to start running at startup (and if you switch them to manual or disable them to get rid of the taskbar icon , Ad-Awasre program will not start at all). No matter if you mark the "hide the taskbar icon" the icon will come up anyway by his own device.

I decided to completely uninstall this version and go back to the less complicated Ad-Aware 2008 until the lvasoft people remove all the bugs and place a button on the interface so you can control whether Adwatch will start automatically on startup or NOT.

Thanks anyway for the help and I will maybe wait 3 months and then come back here to check if that problem was resolved before installing this version.

Oh Lord
U don't need Revo for uninstalling !!!
Revo has more tools !!
Revo will also show the AUTOSTARTS !!
Feel free to try my suggestions or leave...
It's all written in the last posts, you only have to come down and READ

Hi Raziel, I forgot to mention that Your Uninstaller 2009 also shows the startup items and you can prevent any one of them to start at startup by unchecking them. This software has several tools also. I also have Tune-Up Utilities 2009 that also has a startup manager and lot of tools to tweak windows, clen and defrag, etc. I also have StartupFaster which controls that startup of itmes. As you can see I have several applications that can control startup items but to no avail, the taskbar icon has a mind of his own (Artificial Intelligence???!!!). I am done here. I don;t know how to close this topic that I started but if you know how, please close it.

just cancelled (again) the AAWTray.exe for 3 times --
no problem so far
Step one - Ad-Watch live completely disabled
Step two - deleted Ad-Watch ( AAW Tray Application ) from Autostart.
Result : No Ad-Watch / no silent run / last but not least -- no Tray Icon
As I stated above - no problem

FYI
XP SP3 fully patched
Raziel

Thanks Raziel.

It is so nice to finally get rid of the bothersome Ad-Watch icon in the Notification Area after upgrading to the Anniversary Edition of Ad-Aware.

As you noted, I also ended up having to finally delete AAWTray.exe . But it appears I may have used a diffferent method.

Steps

1) Downloaded Revo Uninstaller at
Revo Unistaller Download

2) Launch Revo's "Run Hunter Mode" from Start > All Programs > Revo Uninstaller
Note: A “Hunter mode” small blue window with a target symbol will appear at the right upper corner of your screen.

3) Drag & drop the Hunter Mode icon over the Ad-Aware (Ad-Watch) icon in the Notification Area.

4) Select "Kill and Delete Process"

Voila!

Notes:
I initially tried the choice "Stop Auto Starting". But Hunter Mode could not find AAWTray.exe even though it was at
C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware.

As an an experienced software engineer who is very familiar with the Windows XP Registry I also went to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

I deleted the entry for Ad-Watch. Namely,
"Ad-Watch"="C:\\Program Files\\Lavasoft\\Ad-Aware\\AAWTray.exe"

But I should advise other readers that this did not work either. I also used Autorun and Revo Unistaller to do essentially the same step - i.e. prevent AAWTray.exe from auto starting TO NO AVAIL.

Michael
Senior Software Enginee
San Diego, CA