Adware is a type of malware that is installed on your computer with no knowledge. It can then spy on you to find out what you search for and then display advertising relevant to those searches. This could result in an abundance of unwanted ads that can be extremely distracting and slow down your computer. It also poses serious security, privacy and health risks. Adware can be used to steal data from you and then sell it to marketers.
The company behind adaware is Lavasoft which has been in existence for decades and develops legitimate antivirus software solutions. It is a simple installation and doesn’t require you uninstall your current antivirus. Once installed, you can perform a quick, comprehensive or custom scan, and then update the product via the main dashboard.
There are three plans to choose from with Adaware: free, Pro and Total. The free plan offers real-time protection and download security but does not include ads blocking. The Pro version is more extensive and comes with unlimited tech support as well as web and email protection and a robust firewall. It also includes an electronic lock, parental control and file shredder.
Ad-aware was able block 95.4 percent in AV-Comparatives’ Real-World protection tests however it could only block 97% of zero day samples. While these results may seem decent, they are far from impressive when compared to the top performers in the field. If you’re interested in buying this antivirus, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee for both the Pro and Total versions.