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Lavasoft Ad-Aware Review

Do you know what adware is? I didn't so I had to look it up when someone mentioned it to me. Basically, adware is the nickname of ad-supported software, which in turn refers to any software that will allow advertising material to be displayed or played while you are using the computer or to download this advertising material for you.

Is adware annoying? Yes, actually it can be because you may not want to know about the advertising being displayed on your screen but have little choice because the advertising function is built into your software already. I heard that adware can be considered a form of shareware but is different from other shareware in that it is supported by advertising. If you want to avoid seeing so much advertising splashed across your screen as you work, then you can pay for the privilege of an advertising-free licensed or registered version of the program.

How then is the Lavasoft software known as Lavasoft Ad-Aware different from your common-or-garden adware? Lavasoft Ad-Aware is considered not a form of adware but rather functions as a kind of anti-spyware program as well. Not what the heck is spyware, you may be asking? Spyware is (as its name suggests) a software program that will infiltrate your PC system, much like a computer virus does, and may do damage that ranges from being simply annoying to being downright serious. This is why products like Lavasoft Ad-Aware came into being � to battle the threat posed by insidious adware doubling as spyware. Anti-spyware programs like Lavasoft Ad-Aware can stop adware from doing much damage by identifying adware when it creeps in, imposing quarantine on these unwanted programs, and then eliminating the threat.

Fortunately, the threat posed by adware can be adequately treated by Lavasoft Ad-Aware and its four new versions all under the Lavasoft Ad-Aware brand name. Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE (a previous version) was supposed to be able to intercept and then remove illicit spyware but was criticized by users for various reasons. It may make more sense to buy the Lavasoft Ad-Aware and the four new versions nowadays because otherwise your Windows-based operating system may have to be reinstalled from scratch once spyware has infected it. Think of the Lavasoft Ad-Aware products as an investment that will pay for itself in time.

By itself, the Lavasoft Ad-Aware program can not only remove spyware pretending to be adware, but it can also alert you to the presence of other threats to your computer system, including browser hijackers, parasites, aggressive and annoying advertising, data-mining, malware, Trojans, and dialers. Lavasoft used to offer a free version called the Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal as part of the Google Pack but that was dropped from the Google Pack as of April 2007. One limitation of the Lavasoft Ad-Aware program is that you may only install it on Windows-based computer systems.

You may now choose from the four new versions of the Lavasoft Ad-Aware program array, named respectively Ad-Aware 2007 Free, Ad-Aware 2007 Plus, Ad-Aware 2007 Pro, and Ad-Aware SE Enterprise. Each has a particular specialty but all function by fighting against the presence of spyware in your Windows-based operating system.