I am a long-time Ad-Aware user, and am being offered an update to AE. But should I upgrade?

I know that in order to install KAV, I had to revert ZoneAlarm to an earlier version. KAV wouldn't install any other way. I think I understand why. I have read that newer ZA versions (free and paid) include KAV. In paid versions, KAV shows (renamed to ZA ...) but in the free version, it runs invisibly. Having two AV programs running at the same time is a no-no.

So I wonder about AE. I see that the Ad-Aware free page says that AV protection is not included in AE Free, but I am wary: ZA's website says that AV is not included in ZA Free, but it is! I need (and pay for) KAV. Should I upgrade from Ad-Aware 2008 to AE, or will strange things happen?

Now for TeaTimer. I have it running. From reading various posts on this forum, I get the feeling that AdWatch may conflict with TeaTimer. Am I correct? What is the best way of avoiding this potential conflict?

I look forward to receiving advice.

...chris

I'm pretty sure Ad-aware AE Free has AV built into the program and definitions. Regardless of which version, the installer, definition updates, and GUI are the same - the license is what determines which features are inaccessible/grayed out. Regardless, AE is really flexible. You can configure it to be run on-demand for scanning with no real-time protection.

Spybot has a popup warning when it finds Ad-aware installed. You can choose to ignore this warning permanently or temporarily. After installing AE on my XP system, I ran Ad-Watch with TeaTimer and did not have any conflicts. I eventually turned off TeaTimer since AE Pro has more comprehensive protection.

Many thanks for your answer. It appears that I will be able to update without any problems, but I might have to revert to Ad-Aware 2008. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of AA2008. Do you know where I can find one?

Revert to 2008 in order to upgrade what? I was under the impression you already had 2008 installed since you were asking about the upgrade to AE. I don't know where you can get 2008, but if you don't have access to it, then really your post should have been titled "Install AE free?" rather than "Upgrade to AE free?"

I am running AA 2008 now.

If I have difficulties due to upgrading to AA AE (perhaps Kaspersky will object), I would like to be able to uninstall AE and reinstall 2008. But I don't have a download from which to reinstall 2008. I was hoping that you might know where I could find one.

Does this make more sense?

OK, that makes sense now, thanks for clarifying. If you don't have the 2008 installer buried on your HD or on a backup disc, it's probably best to keep 2008 if you're happy with it. Since 2007 is soon to be obsolete, you probably have a year or so to keep using 2008. I'm a firm believer of "if it works, don't fix it."

The only big conflicts right now seem to be with Symantec Endpoint and Norton 360/Internet Security, which both react when Ad-aware scans their files. Kaspersky had a conflict which has since been resolved - it used to detect an Ad-aware file which, if deleted, meant you could not install/uninstall Ad-aware. Kaspersky fixed the false positive and removed it from their definitions about a month ago.