Lately, the AdAware program "freezes" partway through the cycle. The clock keeps going, but the program stops on one file and will not progress. I have uninstalled the program, using Revo, and reinstalled it several times, with the same result. It had been working perfectly before. No new software has been installed. The program works properly on two other computers with identical configurations. Does anyone have any viable suggestions? Thanks.

Ad-Aware Scan Freeze
If you have Norton, try disabling the tamper protection feature. This problem arose about a month ago, apparently from a Norton update.

I'm having the same problem with the most recent version of Ad-Aware on a Win Vista system and I also do not use Norton. I use CA Anti-Virus. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times and I've tried Smart Scan and Full Scan several times each. The scans hang while scanning the Win Registry or while scanning Tracking Cookies. Any ideas will be appreciated.

:unsure:
Thank you. I disabled Norton completely, but still have the same problem. The clock keeps ticking but the scan just freezes and hangs on the same file. I have let it run for two hours before stopping it and uninstalling the program, then reinstalling it. I don't think the problem is with the Norton upgrade - it is something in the latest AdAware format.

I turn off my Nortion Product Tamper Protection in the Nortion Settings and it works again! Make sure that when you exit the settings in Nortion that you make it a perminant setting.

Turning off Norton's Tamper Protection fixed it for me, also. Jawlaw should double-check and try again.

A couple of things:

1. I only turn off tamper protection for a period of time because I want all of the protection I can get. Just need to disable it before running an Ad-Aware scan.

2. You must be logged in as the Administrator to change the Tamper Protection setting.
I normally log in as a regular user (separate sign on) and can do almost anything I want - while at the same time knowing that if somehow a culprit
grabs my identity, they won't be able to hijack my PC because they won't have Administrator privileges.
There would me MANY fewer security issues if everyone did this - and probably fewer copies of Norton sold or the Terrific, Free Ad-Aware downloaded.

Lavasoft, thank you for providing a great product - AND this forum where concerns can be voiced and resolved!

Thanks to all of you for your responses. I disabled the tamper protection for one hour, re-installed AdAware, and it worked straight through as normal, removing a lot of cookies from my computer. However, I cannot understand the following:
I have six computers, both PC's and laptops. Three are running Vista, three are running XP. All have Norton Internet Security 2009, and all have AdAware AE. I have only had this problem on one PC running Vista 32-bit. The other 32-bit Vista and the 64-bit Vista have no such problem, and none of the XP computers have this problem. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks again.

Nothing for certain.

However, I am religious about manually checking for Norton updates.
Possibly your other computers have not had updates applied for a while.

BTW, I had the problem with an XP desktop and a Vista notebook, both 32 bit versions.

Under Scan Settings, set the default profile to not scan registry and cookies, then see if you can complete a profile scan.
Afterwards, set the default profile to scan only the registry and cookies, and try the profile scan again.
By process of elimination, you'll find if the problem really lies with scanning the registry and cookies, or if it's something else. Also, try scanning after turning off all other running processes to see if you can elimate any conflicts.


From what we can tell by user reports here, the Norton problem affected Vista only and started with a Norton update in late August. That's really all the info we have. Your 2 Vista machines must be configured differently, or maybe haven't updated to the same version of Norton.

All of my computers are regularly updated with all of the latest versions of every program I have. I just spent 3/4 of an hour in a "chat" with Raju of Norton technical support. It was as effective as trying to nail Jello to a wall. I could not make him understand the problem and finally he suggested referring the situation to his supervisor. After another ten minutes waiting, we were disconnected. So much for Norton's interest in resolving the problem. I am going to write to their corporate HQ, letting them know what I think about their outsourced support. However, that still does not resolve the problem.

I have brought this to the attention of Norton tech support and just received this response:

"Welcome back to Norton Support.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, and I am sorry to hear that you are having this problem. As we have already informed on the previous email that the reason is the two Antivirus program will bring conflict with each other. However, have taken your suggestion and we currently do not have the estimated time of repair for this. However, please be assured that we are working to correct it as soon as possible."

If I should receive any further information from them, I will post it here.

Thank you. Hopefully Lavasoft and Norton (Symantec) will be able to sort it out.

Yes, there are going to be problems running two anti-virus programs - but I think this is not the sort of problem one would expect and should be fixed.