Anyone use Ad-Aware?

McCall St. Brewer · 02-13-2008, 01:56 PM

I have been using free versions of Lavasoft's Ad-Aware as one of my anti-spy applications on all of our computers for 2 or 3 years now. Mostly I have been happy with the results. Recently, though, I have begun to have trouble with Ad-Aware 2007 causing one of my computers to shut down when I try to run a scan.

I looked up the problem on various forums and the most common answer is that something called Virtumundo causes the problem. I ran the recommended remover a couple of times, though, and it did not find anything like that. I searched my system and it doesn't come up. Spybot and McAfee Antivirus fun fine and are not finding anything worrisome on my computer.

Anyone else experiencing any problems like this? Should I just give up on Ad-Aware on that computer?

**GilaMinumBeer** · 02-13-2008, 02:03 PM

I just recently installed Ad-Aware 2007 on my laptop. Everything is running fine for me except, it won't update. Is that a feature only available on the bought version?

I also use Ewido and Spybot. They always find things that Ad-Aware misses. Both are available through download.com.

McCall St. Brewer · 02-13-2008, 02:48 PM

When I started having problems with Ad-Aware 2007 I tried going back to an older version, but I found that I was unable to update them. Normally, though, updates are available with the free versions.

I have always tried to use more than one anti-spy app, as they all seem to find things that the other ones don't find.

**DesertBrew** · 02-13-2008, 02:52 PM

I used to but Windows Defender seems to do the trick for me nowadays. Either that or the scumbags that write that crap have tapered off from what it used to be a couple years ago.

**GilaMinumBeer** · 02-13-2008, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McCall St. Brewer

When I started having problems with Ad-Aware 2007 I tried going back to an older version, but I found that I was unable to update them. Normally, though, updates are available with the free versions.

I have always tried to use more than one anti-spy app, as they all seem to find things that the other ones don't find.

Yeah I installed the Ad_aware 2007 because the SE version I had previously was no longer supported.

ohiobrewtus · 02-13-2008, 04:09 PM

I have used it in the past but I've had better luck with ewido.

Blender · 02-13-2008, 04:17 PM

Vitumundo is a nasty little piece of software that I don't think AdAware is going to remove. What type of remover did you run. I have used a remover called Vundo fix and it worked. You should run all the scans in Safe Mode if possible.

I have used a squared malware removal with good results >> http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

Another good cleaner for registry and the like is CCleaner >> http://www.ccleaner.com/

McKBrew · 02-13-2008, 04:26 PM

I just dealt with a virus on my computer, one of those search re-director things that does other crap as well. I found all sorts of crazy trojans, etc... on my hard drive. Why is it that high end programs like McAffee and Norton, can't catch this stuff?

I think viruses are made by the same people who make anti-virus software.

Blender · 02-13-2008, 04:30 PM

Download and run this tool >> http://vundofix.atribune.org/

It worked for me on computer that had the Vundo.

Here is a related Wiki page to virtumundo >> http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal:_Virtumundo