I am trying out the Ad-Aware Plus trial version and I want to be able to prevent it from booting up automatically. Can this be done?

I prefer to use the software as a malware scanner only and do not want it always running on start-up. Thank you.

Go into Ad-Watch settings and turn off any modules (processes, registry, network). Next reboot, Ad-Aware will not start. Right-click the tray icon to exit Ad-Aware in the current session without needing to reboot.

thank you

To Whom It May Concern,

I have Ad-Aware Plus installed on my Windows 7 Ultimate notebook computer. I have un-ticked all the "modules" and "detection layers" options, but still Ad-Aware Personal will activate all by itself. I do not know why this is happening and I find it very annoying. I have never seen a program behave this way. I was successfully able to prevent Ad-Aware Plus from starting when my system boots, but currently I can not stop the program from randomly starting. I know it randomly starts because I see the Ad-Aware icon on my toolbar. Help!

can someone please tell me how I can set Ad-Aware Plus to only turn on when I want it to? Thank you for your time.

Hi Mr. Gump, I reopened your old thread and added your new post.

Your latest topic title said, "I am having trouble controlling Ad-Aware Personal (free)." Just to clarify, you still have only Ad-Aware Plus Trial Version installed?

For the tray icon, go to Settings/Customize and uncheck "Show notification area icon."

Yes I am using the Ad-Aware Plus free version still.

As for hiding the icon, that really only hides the problem and does not address the issue of the program just starting up on its own.

So after you uncheck the Ad-Watch modules and notification tray icon, then reboot, you still have AAWService.exe and AAWTray.exe running in task manager processes?

I will report back on this the moment I notice Ad-Aware Plus starts up on its own

I have just noticed that the Ad-Aware trayservices is running and the icon is showing. No other Ad-Aware programs are running.

Why is it starting up by itself?

If I turn off the notification icon, will that just stop the icon or will it stop the trayservices too? I do not wish to just remove the icon and not know when the program running.

Thank you.

Just to be clear, did the tray icon appear and AAWTray.exe start when you had not selected the setting "Show notification area icon?"

To use Ad-Aware as an on-demand scanner only, you should turn off both the Ad-Watch module(s) and tray icon. Then, when you start Ad-Aware (execute Ad-Aware.exe), both AAWService and AAWTray will start. AAWService.exe is the main part of the program (scanning engine, etc.) and AAWTray.exe is a separate application (tray icon, notifications, access portal to update, scan, etc.).

Info on the Tray Application can be found in the user manual. Click "Help" in Ad-Aware or view/download it here:

http://lavasoft.com/support/supportcenter/...ware_manual.pdf

Go to "Using Ad-Aware" > "Tray Application" and it explains the AAWTray.exe functions.

Wanting Ad-Aware on-demand only, yet keeping the tray icon selected is like "wanting your cake and eating it too." If you select the notification area icon setting, AAWTray.exe will run automatically. You don't need this if you're only going to use Ad-Aware as an on-demand scanner.

If you have turned off both the settings for Ad-Watch and Notification area icon, and AAWService or AAWTray start automatically, then it would be a bug. Otherwise, Ad-Aware is performing as intended.

no, I had never clicked off the ad-aware tray before. I just didn't know the tray program starts up by itself for whatever reason. I wasn't sure why it was starting up but now I guess it might be starting on its own so it can update.

Anyway, I have now turned off the icon option and I will be checking the task manager to see if any Ad-Aware programs start without my permission. Thank you for the help.

Oh yeah, you can turn off auto-updates in the settings as well. I'm not sure if it's disabled when you turn off the tray icon.

thank you