Made by cybersecurity firm Lavasoft (formerly popularly known as Ad-Aware) Adaware’s goal is to fight the various types of rogue programs and privacy infringements that a lot of consumers aren’t even aware of. This includes programs that path your surfing habits, courses that hijack your browser’s start page and apps that display annoying advertising at the most inconvenient times. This free program offers various features that will boost your device’s security, and ensure it runs smoothly.
In our tests, adaware was able to identify the majority of the malware we tried to throw at it. It did have trouble removing some malware, however. The program does have numerous useful extras such as a privacy monitor an registry scanner, a file shredder and advanced monitoring of network. It’s worth noting though, that adaware doesn’t provide quite as much protection as some of the most popular antivirus programs in the market.
Adaware’s participation in the AV Test lab tests resulted in the blocking of only 95. The threat rate was 4% for 0-day threats and 97% of known threats. These aren’t bad scores however they do not compare to the most powerful security suites accomplish.
Adware users who want to perform better should consider the alternatives. We recommend Kaspersky, Bitdefender and others due to their reliability during real-world testing. Some users might be disappointed to find that only users of the Pro and Total plans have access to online customer and technical support. On its website, the company offers numerous information and frequently asked questions.