Recommended by the experts (Ad-aware)

Member Name: jennikitten

Product:	Ad-aware
Date:	02/12/08 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Helps keep your computer clean

Disadvantages: Have to pay for more options

Ad-aware is a spyware and ad removal program that I use as part of my regular anti virus and software programs along with AVG, Spybot and CCleaner.

It's surprising good for a free program, and you get a lot of computer experts recommending it, so if I was into that kind of thing I'd buy the extended version of this rather than any of its competitors.

It's free to download and easy to install. Just go to download.com and search for it for a download.

So what does it do? Basically, when you're browsing the Internet, rubbish can download itself onto your computer without you realising, Funnily enough, if you share a computer with someone (not naming names), it seems a lot more likely to happen...

Anyway, Ad-Aware won't get rid of viruses for you, which is why you need a separate form of anti-virus software, but what it will do is inform you of potential threats relating to a lot of different kinds of ad ware and spy ware attempting to find its way onto your computer. You can run manual scans (or set a scan time if you buy the full version) to see what it picks up. Often it will only pick up tracking cookies, which aren't much of a threat so it's up to you whether you delete them or not. However, it does pick up other rubbish on a regular basis too so I'd recommend running it once a week.

As with similar programs of this nature, it requires updates on a regular basis as hackers and other evil people come up wtih new ways to make computer and Internet users lives a misery. The updates are free though and Ad-Aware will often prompt you when it's time to download an update, so keep checking.

Summary: Use in conjunction with other free programs to keep your computer happy!

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