System:
Windows 2k Pro
Ad-Aware AE Free
Ad-Watch Live NOT installed

Description:
When I launch Ad-Aware, an icon appears in the system tray. Okay, that's not unusual. But when I close Ad-Aware, the tray icon remains. If I right-click on the icon and select "Exit Ad-Aware," I get a confirmation asking if I really want to shut down Ad-Watch Live.

Problems:
1. I specifically chose NOT to install Ad-Watch Live. So why am I being asked if I want to shut it down?
2. When I close a program, its tray icon should be closed down automatically.

Hi,

Your not just being asked if you want to disable Ad-Watch Live!, you're also being asked if you want to completely shutdown Ad-Aware. This is the same confirmation screen for all users when they perform the "Exit Ad-Aware" through the tray icon - so most will have Ad-Watch enabled. Yes, I suppose the developers could have two different confirmation screens depending whether or not you have Ad-Watch enabled or not - but I guess its more hassle than its worth?

The tray icon is not dependant upon the Ad-Aware program. It is designed to be there even when Ad-Aware isn't open, so that the user can update Ad-Aware and run scans without having to open the GUI. This behaviour is very common among anti-malware programs.

Casey

Well, here's one customer who was confused by it.



There are numerous posts on these forums about people who don't like too many icons cluttering their system tray. There should at least be an option letting the user control this behavior. I've never had an anti-malware program that did this. SpywareBlaster doesn't do it. Neither does Spybot.

By "close" do you mean closing the GUI or exiting the program? When I right-click the icon to exit Ad-Aware and OK the confirmation, my tray icon disappears until I execute again. There's an option to hide the tray icon:

AE GUI - Main - Settings - Appearance - General - click Hide taskbar icon

I mean to exit the program. The standard Windows behavior, as defined by Microsoft, is that when you select Exit from the File menu, Close from the Window menu (Alt-F4), or click the Close button (the 'X' at the right end of the titlebar), the application exits. Programs that leave any portion of themselves in memory when you take these actions are behaving badly, and are incorrectly designed.

As I tried to explain to you, the two things are independant. The tray icon is a different 'program' than the main interface. However, as visitor points out you can choose not to have it displayed at all.

They are separate executables, but they are not independent. If they were truly independent, then the AAWService.exe and AAWTray.exe programs would not need to be launched when Ad-Aware.exe is launched.

Three programs get loaded into memory when you launch Ad-Aware: Ad-Aware.exe, AAWService.exe, and AAWTray.exe. Through experimentation, I determined that Ad-Aware.exe will run without AAWTray, but not without AAWService. The only way to unload AAWService is to right-click the tray icon and exit that way. So there is some interdependence.

Secondly, hiding the icon does not mean the program isn't in memory. When you close Ad-Aware (at least, when you TRY to close Ad-Aware like you would any other program), Ad-Aware.exe goes away, but the other two remain in memory, even if the tray icon is hidden. If the tray icon is hidden, then the only way to get AAWService out of memory is to reboot, because Task Manager won't allow you to kill it.

I maintain this is bad behavior.

I think Microsoft's definition, as you describe it, pertains more to applications than programs designed to be resident, real-time protection. It's comparing apples and oranges. AVG is similar to Ad-Aware, exiting the tray icon does not stop all processes. Spywareblaster is different - it's protection is limited, akin to Spybot immunization - blocking via the hosts file and browser config. Spybot also has resident protection via TeaTimer and SDHelper which can only be turned off permanently through the advanced user interface.

It's not like you can't turn off Ad-Aware completely. If you're so concerned about it running in memory and can't be bothered with a right-click exit, just uninstall. I sort of feel like you baited this topic since it started out looking like a simple question about the wording of the exit confirmation dialog and turning off the tray icon to avoid clutter. If the real issue is background processes running in memory, cut to the chase and mention it in the subject line and initial post.

I didn't come here to be lectured about how to write a message. I stated my concern clearly. If there's no solution to what I'm asking for, then the only people who need to be concerned with this issue are Lavasoft engineers who should take this as a bug report.

You should find that, on a default install, AAWTray.exe (the tray icon) should load at startup - this does not require the GUI of Ad-Aware.exe to be open.



That's true and it's actually something I brought up in beta testing. However, Lavasoft answered along the lines of "it doesn't close AAWTray so that users can quickly renable the application".

AAWService is completely different again, this must be running for Ad-Aware to work.

Have you read this topic? You might find it useful to hear Lavasoft's reasonings on why the software is set up as it currently is.

Casey

Clearly Ad-Aware is no longer the program for my purpose. I'll uninstall and look around for something more appropriate.

Thanks for your time.

No problem.

Sorry we couldn't really help!

Casey