Ad aware peoblem and alternatives

oldagetraveller

I have Ad aware(free) 2007 installed on this p.c., a laptop and further p.c. All with Windows XP sp2. Avast A.V. and Comodo Firewall - both free versions.
Since my last scan on 27 March, which worked fine on this p.c. Adaware just freezes randomly a short way into the scan, both full and smart, then reverts back to main page without finding any "infections". The other machines are fine, scan properly and update when necessary. The main p.c. updates also.
I've tried un-installing then downloading again but without success. Rather than carry on with Ad aware on this p.c. is there a suitable free alternative which does the same thing.
I did try a System Restore to 26 March but afterwards received message that it was not restored.
I also have Spybot on all three machines, fully updated and immunised.

isofa

If you have Spybot S+D, that is already a good alternative. None of them capture everything, but Spybot and Ad-aware are my preferences.

oldagetraveller

Thanks for that, I just can't understand why it's (the Ad aware) doing this. I don't think I've done anything on this p.c that hasn't been done on the others (I probably have though!) and they're fine. I'll no doubt un- install Ad-aware and rely on the Spybot S&D in conjunction with Avast and Comodo to intercept/find most of the junk. Ad-aware always finds something though, when it works - usually tracking cookies.

Edit to add - I've looked on the Lavasoft forum and it would appear I'm not alone.

isofa

If you also run CCleaner regularly, it'll clear out all tracking cookies and other junk.

John2g

Not only is there a free thing, there is a much better thing From the same stable as your firewall. http://www.comodo.com/boclean/boclean.html

oldagetraveller

I've tried to use CCleaner in the past and all that happens is a scan then a list of stuff that's cluttering up my p.c. then give us money to remove them!! So not had any success with that unfortunately.
I'll take a look at the Comodo offering John.

tweeter

I use A-Squared free to catch the blighters that Spybot miss occasionally. HTH

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

n65uk

Ad-aware 2007 is junk. It's bad development and it's detection rates are falling.

Drop it, get it a copy of either SpywareTerminator, AVG AntiSpyware Free or Spyware Terminator.

Or just stay with Spybot S & D but truely Ad-aware 2007 is junk. Just uninstall it.

isofa

oldagetraveller wrote: »

I've tried to use CCleaner in the past and all that happens is a scan then a list of stuff that's cluttering up my p.c. then give us money to remove them!! So not had any success with that unfortunately.
I'll take a look at the Comodo offering John.

CCleaner is an excellent tool, I've been using it for many years. It sounds like your copy of CCleaner isn't legit, the real software is 100% free to use. Never download from unauthorised links, you'll end up with copies that are rife with Spyware and asking you to pay for free software.

Quote from it's home page: "CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! "

It's real homepage is: http://www.ccleaner.com/ (linked in my post above).

And the download is hosted in FileHippo as ronben says, direct link: http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

PROLIANT

CCleaner and Spybot are the perfect marriage to any PC, Laptop or Server. 5 Years of service and some of the healthiest systems on the planet.