ad-aware

[wendyl]

I installed Ad-aware personal on my new laptop I understood it would be free but I keep getting pop ups saying I have two spywares and need to pay to rectify. I think it is unlikely I have them anyway but was looking for a free service. Advice please

[Buenchico]

Ad-aware doesn't run in the background in the same way which your firewall and antivirus programs do. So it doesn't continuosly monitor your PC to see if any spyware/adware/etc is on your hard drive.

This means two things:
First of all, any pop-ups you get aren't being generated by Ad-aware. They're either a component of the website you're viewing or they're being generated by adware which has found its way onto your PC.

Secondly, if the pop-ups are a component of something unwelcome on your PC, running Ad-aware should get rid of them. You shouldn't need to pay anyone anything.

I apologise if anything which I've written here comes across as a 'statement of the blindingly obvious' but I've known several people who've expected Ad-aware to continuously monitor their PC. It doesn't. If you don't run it periodically, you'll start to collect all sorts of nasties. So, before you give up on Ad-aware, try running it. You'll almost certainly find several unwelcome files detected, which Ad-aware can quickly deal with. The chances are that you won't see those pop-ups again for a while. When you do, it's time to run the software again (although, ideally, you should do this about once a week anyway).

Chris

[wendyl]

Thanks Chris but my experience does not tie in with this. These pop ups come up as soon as I switch the lap top on before opening any web site and keep recurring whilst in use and definitely ask me to pay to 'fix'
I have barely used the new notebook as yet except to download Firefox Thunderbird AVG Open Office and Ad-aware and install my Serif software. It is mainly needed for back up since recent problems with my main PC (now resolved for the moment at least) I have just received another email from Sungold informing me I am 2 weeks into 4 week trial and asking $19 for 1 year subscription. Would you advise I take this up or run another spyware programme to see if it finds the same 'spywares'?

[vinovin]

Chris is dead right in what he says ad-aware is free (you can also run spybot at thesame time, also free) so nothing to pay. The pop ups are probably from a previous time do you use a firewall ?

[Buenchico]

Vinovin got in ahead of me. I've been trying to get past AB's technical problems for hours. Anyway, here's what I've been trying to post:

Ok, now you've really got me confused!

I've never heard of Sungold. They've certainly got nothing to do with Lavavasoft who produce Ad-aware.

I can only think of two reasons why you might be getting those e-mails. The first, of course, is that they could simply be random spam. The other possible cause is that you might have downloaded rogue software which is pretending to be Ad-aware but is, in fact, a different program designed to extort money from you.
(Sungold.co.uk appears to be a computer repair company, or something similar. It's website proudly proclaims the name of its designer. That's probably not a good idea because the site is slow to load and includes non-functioning links and spelling mistakes! Sungold.com is the website of the manufacturer of an all-purpose cleaning solution!).

Ignore the e-mails. Uninstall your version of Ad-aware. Then, either download it directly from Lavasoft and re-install it, or switch to Ad-aware's biggest rival, Spybot:
http://www.lavasoft.com/
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

(It's worth remembering that, because they don't continuously run in the background, there's no reason why you shouldn't have several anti-spyware programs on your PC. You'll only run one at a time so, unlike firewalls and anti-virus sotware, there won't be any possible problems with conflicts).

Chris

[wendyl]

Sorry Chris Sungold is Sungold Kerio firewall recommended and downloaded as free trial around same time as recommended by fo3nix who also advised would not need paid for version for my use
As for ad-aware I will go back to laptop and do as you suggest
ie uninstall and redownload
many thanks for your help (also vinovin yes the Kerio firewall but laptop brand new and barely used as yet) and I will report back later

[wendyl]

sorry again chris its sunbelt kerio not sungold

[wendyl]

Thanks all - Have reinstalled ad-aware plus spybot and all seems well