Spooky! (Ad-Aware 5)

Member Name: FraserP

Product:	Ad-Aware 5
Date:	05/09/01 (333 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: effective, simple, free

Disadvantages: makes you neurotic, perhaps unnecessary with the latest version of explorer

This software is a must! If you resent being labelled and followed as you cruise the net, you need this. It is shareware, so you can try it for free. Unregistered you have to run it manually.
Installation is straight forward. Once installed you select "scan now". It runs a scan on memory and on your hard disk and shows you a number of potential spy-ware programs, which lurk in your computer. As I understand them, these are programs which are sent from web sites to your computer and which send bits of information about you back to advertisers, so they know where you have been, what you looked at etc. Big brother on the net.

To be fair, the balance is a delicate one as it is unreasonable to expect the net to be run for free, and one way for commercial organisations to get their money back is to gather information on browsing. However I think that it should be clear when you enter a site that, in return for some information you are seeking, they would like to trace what you are looking at.

I run this about once a week and find that it discovers about 12 new "infections" each time. You are given the choice of backing up the files before it deletes them. This is wise as some web sites use cookies which may be confused with spy ware and you may then suffer if you are asked for your password, name etc each time you use the site.

As an aside, I think the new version of explorer, version 6, now contains options by which you can block spy ware, like "doubleclick". Still, I shall keep Ad-aware and run it from time to time just to be sure my computer has not been infected. This program is for all neurotics- you know they are watching you.......

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