I like this website very much and I think you are all wonderful people

for solving other people's computer problems, however,

I find disturbingly very little info concerning WINDOWS VISTA on this site.

I have an ACER Aspire E380 computer and

I cannot run Ad-Aware SE PLUS after I just bought it!!

I can download any Ad-Aware program but as soon as I begin to install it

I get a warning box that says "FATAL ERROR + Installation ended prematurely because of an error."

I've tried to login to Lavasoft Support but not only does the site NOT recognize my

password, but it fails to send any hint or assistance to my E-mail box!!!!

Again, I can find very little info regarding WINDOWS VISTA. What I do find

does not refer to my specific problem.

Please help me with this......
Click to view attachment

Don't consider this reply definitive, but I just visited the download page for Ad-AwareSE and found the following listed as system requirements:

I don't see any reference at all to Vista, indicating to me that it is not a supported platform. Typically that would indicate that it might work or might not, but if it doesn't it is your problem not the vendor's.

So it is my problem and not the vendor's, huh?

1) You post "I don't see any reference at all to Vista". If you're trying to put me in my place for not reading the fine print then why
do you bother posting after this "typically that would indicate that it might work or might not"? If you want to correct me, then
please try to be a little more precise about it.

2) You post "indicating to me it is not a supported platform." What about the MILLIONS of Microsoft Vista users around the globe?
Nearly, if not all, every operating system Microsoft has produced has been an upgrade from the previous one.
LAVASOFT AD-AWARE has worked fine with all of them until now, with this Vista issue.
With this in mind would you still post "it's my problem and not the vendor's"? I'm surprised the moderators of this site
allow such a statement to be posted, considering the global exposure this site has.
By the way, are you an employee of Lavasoft or did you reply to my post in an attempt to patronize me and
the millions of other people who have spent money on Ad-Aware upgrades and now have little to show for it?

3) The first statement you post is "Don't consider this reply definative". Now here you have a point.
But if your reply is not definitive, then why do you even bother to post it, let alone telling me "it's your problem and not the vendor's"?

HUNDREDS of millions of people around the globe use Microsoft operating systems and eventually most of them will upgrade to Vista.
If this "Vista issue" is the turning point in Lavasoft's standing with the computer world (and it's really starting to look like it) then
Lavasoft will see there sales drop like a rock in a lake.

Like millions of other people, I have lost $22.95 attempting to upgrade the Ad-Aware that I have been usuing for 3 years.
I even UNINSTALLED my previous version of Ad-Aware (the free one) thinking this was the problem but it was'nt.
Now my Vista operating system will not install ANY version of Ad-Aware so I am compelled to use a product
OTHER THAN Lavasoft whether I like it or not.

I don't like it. I like Ad-Aware and I have used it over 1000 times in the last 3 years and now if I want to check my computer
for spyware I am compelled to go to Lavasoft's competition even though I don't want to

Please don't tell me "it's your problem and not the vendor's". This is P.T. Barnum's logic.

Considering the fine reputation Lavasoft has cultivated over the past years it is now THEIR problem. I am not
the only person who has lost money to Lavasoft. There are millions of others and the list keeps growing.

It's easy to see that a lot of Lavasoft employees, who think they are well-situated now, will soon experience what it is like
to be laid off from a job unless their employers resolve this petty communication squabble with Microsoft.

Don't bother replying to this post as I won't be back. I've had enough disappointment from Lavasoft and it's "forum".

Have a nice day!

I certainly apologize if I offended anyone, that was not my intent. For the benefit of any readers with an interest in this topic, let's try it again.

I have no personal experience with Vista at all and have read no accounts of trying to run Ad-AwareSE on Vista other than the one in the original post here. I am not a Lavasoft employee so anything that I say here is subject to correction by those who are.

On the download page for Ad-AwareSE, Vista is not listed as a supported platform. This does not necessarily mean that it will not run on Vista, just that Lavasoft does not provide support if problems are encountered while trying to do so. With Ad-Aware2007 scheduled for release this month I think it highly doubtful that there will be further development of the SE product, particularly expanding platform support.

Vista support is scheduled for implementation in Ad-Aware2007, although it does not appear that it will be supported at the time of release (see This).

FWIW, every application with which I am personally familiar has gone through a similar process of having to redesign to support Vista due to the extensive internal changes in the OS and compatibility requirements imposed by Microsoft. I have also seen other releases which followed the XP, Vista32, Vista64 progression. From my perspective Lavasoft is not joining the party too late to get a good seat.

Hello randy9,

I can understand your frustration that Ad-aware isn't Vista compatible yet, but please don't lash out at oldfrog who is a valued member in this forum and in the security community as well. He is only trying to help and his information is always professional and respectful. He and I go way back on other security help forums and I can indeed vouch for his integrity and willingness to help others with questions.

The link he provided above should point you to the announcement that Ad-aware is not yet Vista compatible and that is planned for sometime in August for 32 bit and 4th quarter 2007 for 64-bit. Your license that was provided with your purchase specifies that you are entitled to a refund within 14 days of purchase if you wish to request one, so you haven't "lost" any money. You may contact the Support Center for any additional questions you may have and you will receive direct support from them. Use the username and password provided in the email you should have received at the time of purchase to login to the Support Center here:
http://www.lavasoft.com/support/supportcenter/

These Support Forums are provided for user-to-user interaction and are not always monitored by the Support Staff as they are usually busy assisting paid users in the Support center for one-on-one assistance.

And to oldfrog, thank you for taking the time to respond and I hope that any misunderstanding are now clarified as, indeed, you are truly very helpful to all you encounter in whatever forums you participate in.

I didn't know Ad-Aware isn't Vista compatible, I know the Beta for 07' isn't compatible, but I have the Proffessional version on my Vista computer, and it works fine, I'd suggest once you download it or something, right click it, go to properties 'Compatibility', this will give you a choice to run it as an XP, Windows 95, etc.... and fine tune it also, like removing graphics or such on it not compatible with Vista, my Vista computer does this automatically so I have no problems with it..

As a matter of fact, look at the link below...

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...cf5f101033.mspx

I just wanted to chime in that I too have that same "Fatal Error: Installation ended prematurely because of an error." Happened in both in the
previous version and the 2007.

From previous posts, although Ad-Aware SE 1.06 was not listed as being Vista-compliant, some posters reported no trouble with running AAW SE, whilst others could not get it to work at all. Seems to come down to a particular system's configuration.

@randy9

May I suggest that you follow Solaze's advice and try compatability-mode.

If that does not work, follow Janie's advice, seek a refund for now, then re-purchase when the Vista-compliant version is released.

Subscribe to the Lavasoft News newsletter and keep an eye on the Lavasoft Blog , both of which will keep you informed on up-coming releases/changes.

Ad-Aware 2007 is a valuable tool - I would hope that this short-term delay doesn't put you off coming back again

Regards,

Spike

I found this thread interesting since I just installed SE on my laptop running Vista and it's had no problems so far. My only concern was in full system scan mode where I literally watched the number of detected objects go from below 400 to around 430. For those that have had luck running it with Vista, have there been any other issues?