Installing and Using Ad-Aware SE Personal
WARNING! Ad-Aware is an advanced piece of software. SVN provides this document as a reference only and cannot take responsibility for any problems that may arise as a result of the use of this software or the information contained in this document. If you have any doubts, please contact a computer professional. SVN also offers "computer cleanup" services at reasonable rates. Details are available here. Before proceeding with the instructions in this document, we recommend that you read our information page on spyware/adware here.
Ad-Aware is a piece of software, written by Lavasoft, that is designed to detect and remove spyware and adware from your computer. Spyware and adware can be pieces of software, cookies, and other files that attempt to display ads on your computer or otherwise invade your privacy. The latest version of Ad-Aware can be downloaded here. At this time, Ad-Aware is only available for Windows-based PCs.
This document outlines the procedure for downloading, installing, updating and using Ad-Aware.
- The first step is to obtain the latest version of Ad-Aware. You can do so by clicking here.
- Once the file is downloaded, you should see an icon like this one on your desktop (or wherever you saved the file):
Double-click on this aawsepersonal.exe icon.
- The installation program for the software will start. Click Next to bypass the introduction screen.
- Read the license agreement and then check the box to indicate your acceptance of the agreement. Then click Next.
- To accept the default installation location (fine for most users), click Next.
- Depending on your computer, you may be presented with the option to install the software for anyone who uses your computer or just for yourself. For most users, Anyone who uses this computer will work fine. Make this selection (if it appears) and click Next.
- Click Next again to start the installation of the software.
- When the installation process finishes, uncheck all three of the boxes that appear on the final screen and then click Finish.
- The software is now installed. When you want to run Ad-Aware in the future, you can skip all of the steps up until this point.
- After installation is complete, you should have an Ad-Aware SE Personal icon like this one on your desktop:
- Make sure you are connected to the Internet and then Double-click the Ad-Aware SE Personal icon.
- You may be prompted to check for updates if the definitions included with the copy of Ad-Aware you downloaded are old. If a dialog like the one below appears, click Cancel. We will update the definitions manually in the next step.
- In a few seconds, the main screen will appear. Click on Check for Updates Now, as indicated below.
- Click on the Connect button, as indicated below.
- If you receive a message about a new reference file being available, click on the OK button, as indicated below. The new reference file will now download.
- If you receive a message that no new reference file is available, click on the OK button.
- If you downloaded a new reference file, click on the Finish button once it becomes available (when the download is complete). Otherwise, you can click on Finish right away, as indicated below.
- Ad-Aware's reference file is now up to date. This means that it has the most recent and effective detection and removal capabilities.
- Now that your copy of Ad-Aware is up to date, you're ready to scan your computer. From the main screen, click on the Start button in the lower right corner of the Ad-Aware window.
- Select Perform full system scan and then click Next, as indicated below.
- Ad-Aware will now scan your computer for any suspicious files and registry entries. This may take a while, depending on the speed of your computer and the number of files on your hard drive.
- When the scan is complete, a summary of the results will appear, as shown below.
- Click Next. The full results will now appear. It is not unusual for there to be a large number of results (i.e. more than 100), particularly if this is the first time you have run Ad-Aware. Most of the files detected by Ad-Aware are cookies, which are the least harmful/invasive of all of the files it is capable of detecting.
- With your right mouse button, click in the list of results and choose Select All on the menu that pops up, as shown below.
- Click Next, as shown below.
- Click OK when the "X objects will be removed. Continue?" message appears, as shown below.
- All of these objects will now be removed. (A quarantined backup copy is kept in the event that one of the files needs to be restored in the future)
- Close Ad-Aware and restart your computer.
