09 January 2008, 09:57

Free Ad-Aware SE retired

From the start of this year Lavasoft, maker of popular anti-spyware software Ad-Aware, has ceased supplying updates for the free version of Ad-Aware SE. Affected users can switch to Ad-Aware 2007, also available for free.

Lavasoft will continue to offer support for paid-for versions of Ad-Aware SE. In contrast to the free version, these also include a background monitor. One of the most obvious differences between Ad-Aware SE and 2007 Free is that in Ad-Aware 2007 Free a background service runs continuously, despite the fact that it is only used for on demand scans. In addition, the 2007 version does not run under Windows 98.

In the Lavasoft support forum, some users describe how users can at least still install updates manually. Users with an NT-based version of Windows, such as Windows 2000 or XP, should however update to the latest 2007 version.