Ad-aware FAQ...

Frequently asked questions..


 




Official Ad-aware FAQ

Q: What is spyware?

A: Spyware is a synonym for advertising systems, which secretly uses your internet connection to
download banner-ads or send various user data to a companies server - with or without knowledge of the user. *)
These companies build user profiles for statistical data, or they sell it to third parties to do target advertising.

These companies, all have very nice privacy policies, that are shown during installation of their (customers) software.

Our experience is, that nearly all people where not aware of the fact that they install an "advertising parasite" when they
installed the "freeware" host application.

Anyway, it is like the "fine print on the back of the ceiling", obviously near to fraud.

When you decide to uninstall the host application (the freeware), the spyware will remain active on your system.
This so called "freeware" is often not free at all, it may cost your privacy or at least bandwidth and cpu resources.

Please read the general information page for a complete overview and company profiles.
 

*) for example, Radiate is very proud about their over 2.000.000 victims (yes, that is what they claim on their page).
you may ask yourself how many of them are aware of this.
 
 

Q: How does it get installed on my system?

A: In most cases by downloading and installing a "freeware" program,
but today even retail software can contain advertising systems.
 
 

Q: How do i know before installing, if a program contains spyware?

A: You may use the free Ad-search utility from Jason Loefer, that contains a regularly updated list of known spyware,
This program and the latest database is available on our page at www.lavasoft.de
Or have a look at the "Spychecker" online database at www.spychecker.com (great!)
 
 

Q: Where can i get more Information about spyware?

A: Please check the related links page in this document for a list of recommended sites.
 
 

Q: What does Ad-aware do?

A: Basically, Ad-aware will scan your system for known advertising systems and lets you remove them from your system.
It will scan your memory, registry and file system for known modules.
If a related module was found in memory, it means the spyware was active until Ad-aware detected and
unloaded the particular module.
i.e. if TSADBOT.EXE was found in your memory, it means that Timesink is not only installed, but was also active.
Nearly all of your internet and system settings are stored in the registry.
Ad-aware will scan parts of your registry for modifications or values and references to known spyware.
Finally, your hard drive(s) will be scanned for known spyware files.
After the scanning process, you can view a list of all spyware references residing on your system,
and select for removal.
In short: Ad-aware helps you in getting rid of advertising parasites.
Make sure you always use the latest version, as Ad-aware is updated regularly.
 
 

Q: Will my program still work?

A: It depends on the program you are using, some will continue to work, after you
removed the adware, and some don't.
We do not have time to test every program individually, if you would like more information
regarding a specific program, please go to our forum.
Some programs (I.e. GoZilla) will definitely not work without the advertising system installed,
but there are alternatives to any of these programs.
Generally if an application is available without ads (only the shareware version is ad-sponsored), you have
a good chance it keeps working.
 
 

Q: Why did my program stopped working?

A: In most cases, the program could still work without the advertising system.
But the programmer included a check for the presence of a particular file, and closes the application if it can't be located.
The code of the advertising system is separate from the code of the host application, it is completely up to the
programmer if his app keeps working or not. In any case it is the programmers decision if his app works without the
spyware installed.
 
 

Q: How come my program is still working?

A: ;-)
 
 

Q: Will Ad-aware remain freeware? and why is there a plus version?

A: Yes Adaware is and will of course remain freeware.
The plus version does not mean that the regular Ad-aware program is restricted in any way.
The main difference is that Ad-watch is included with Ad-aware plus.
For more info, look here.
 
 

Q: Can Ad-aware only remove the ads and keep the Application running?

A: No, this is not our intention (and would be illegal btw.)
You have the possibility to block the internet access of particular files, but remember that
the parasite still resides on your system, even if it is not transmitting data.
In some cases removing the spyware system does not harm the host application.
 

Q: How do i use the "reflist.sig" file, and what is it for?

A: The reflist file is used by Ad-aware like a signature file by a virus scanner.
It contains information such as, to what advertising system a particular component belongs, and how to treat it.
After you've downloaded and unzipped this file, please move it to the Ad-aware\Ad-watch folder and replace
any former version.
We will update this file frequently, please make sure you have the latest version installed.
To find out the version number, please click on the 'click here for more information' link in the Ad-aware title screen,
Ad-watch will print this number in the first line when loaded.
 
 

Q: What's up with "Web3000" you've mentioned before?

A: Some Web3000 installations replace (without telling you of course) an important system library, WSock32.dll.
If Ad-aware detects that this file has been replaced by Web3000 on your system, you'll get a warning message.
If you get this message, we highly recommend you use the Web3000 uninstaller prior to
removing any Web3000 references with Ad-aware.

If you run Ad-aware with the parameter /full or /auto, no Web3000 references will automatically get deleted if
WSock32.dll has been replaced.
 
 

Q: How do i get rid of this darn DoubleClick cookie?

A: Doubleclick offers an optout feature on their web site, once you've installed their optout cookie, Ad-aware
will no longer mark it as spyware (it will be noticed in the log file).
 
 

Q: What is a cookie ?

A: A Client Side Persistent Cookie is a small text file, only a few bytes in size.
It is used to store information on your hard drive. A cookie has a limited lifetime.
The size of the cookie can never exceed 4 kb.
 
 

Q: Are cookies dangerous?

A: The answer is no.
A cookie is a pure text file, and can never contain any exe files or viruses.
Normally only the web server that has created the cookie can get it in return.
However some web browsers have a programming error (bug) that will allow a specially crafted web page
to read cookies not sent from it's own server. In most cases it is not possible for anybody else,
that does not have physical access to your computer, to snoop around among your cookies and
see which sites you have visited.

However, some cookies do assign you a unique identifier, that means you will be identified when you return to the
web site. Some personally (i.e. Doubleclick) - some not.
 
 

Q: How long will a cookie remain on your system?

A: A cookie does not stay on your system forever. Normally the cookie will be stored in your Random Access Memory (RAM)
and will be deleted as soon as you close your browser.
Anyhow there are cookies that will not be deleted, unless you do it manually.
 
 

Q: What is a secure cookie?

A: These kind of cookies can only be written to your system if your connection is encrypted.
 
 



Note: Please visit the Ad-aware forum at http://www.morelerbe.com/cgi-bin/ubb-cgi/Ultimate.cgi
if you have a question that is not covered in this document.