Q: What is spyware?
A: Spyware is an synonym for advertising systems, which secretly uses your internet
connection to download banner-ads or send various user data to an companies server
- with or without knowledge of the user.
For example, Radiate is very proud about their over 2.000.000 victims (yes, that is what
they claim on their page). You may ask yourself how many of them are aware of this.
These companies build user profiles for statstical data, or they sell it to third parties
to do target advertising.
These companies have all very nice privacy policies, that are shown during installation
of their (customers) software.
Our experience is, that nearly all people where not aware of the fact that they install
an "advertising parasite" when they installed the "freeware" host application.
Anyway, it is like the "fineprint on the back of the ceiling", obviously near to fraud.
When you decide to uninstall the host application (the freeware), the spyware will remain
active on your system. So this so called "freeware" is often not free at all, it may cost
your privacy or atleast bandwith and cpu ressources.
Please read the general information page for a complete overview and company profiles.
Q: How does it get installed on my system?
A: In most cases by downloading and installing a "freeware" programm. But today even retail
software can contain advertising systems.
Q: How do i know before installing, if a program contains spyware?
A: You may use the free Ad-search utilitie from Jason Loefer, that contains an regulary
updated list of known spyware. This program and the latest Database is available on our
page at www.lavasoftusa.com Or have a look at the "Spychecker" online database at
www.spychecker.com (great!)
Q: Where can i get more Information about spyware?
A: Please check the related links page in this document for a list of recommended sites.
Q: What does Ad-aware do?
A: Basically, Ad-aware will scan your system for known advertising systems and lets you
remove them from your system. It will scan your memory, registry and file system for known
modules. If a related module was found in memory, it means the spyware was active until
Ad-aware detected and unloaded the particular module. I.e. if TSADBOT.EXE was found in your
memory, it means that Timesink is not only installed, but was also active. Nearly all
of your internet and system settings are stored in the registry. Ad-aware will scan parts
of your registry for modifications or values and references to known spyware. And finally,
your harddrive(s) will be scanned for known spyware files. After the scanning process, you
can view a list of all spyware references residing on your system, and select for removal.
In short words: Ad-aware helps you getting rid of advertising parasites. Make sure you
always use the latest version, as Ad-aware is updated regulary.
Q: Will my program still work?
A: It depends on the program you are using, some will continue to work, after you removed
the adware, and some dont. We do not have time to test every program individually, if you
like more information regarding a specific program, please go to our forum. Anyway - some
programs (I.e. GoZilla) will definately not work without the advertising system installed.
But there are alternatives to any of these programs. Generally if an Application is available
without ads (means only the Shareware version is ad-sponsored), you have a good chance it
keeps working.
Q: Why did my program stopped working?
A: In most cases, the program could still work without the advertising system. But the
programmer included a check for the presence of a particular file, and close the application
if it cant be located. The code of the advertising system is seperated from the code of the
host application, it is completely up to the Programmer if his app keeps working or not.
In any case it is the programmers decision if his app works without the spyware installed
or not.
Q: How come my program is still working?
A: ;-)
Q: Will Ad-aware remain freeware? and why is there a plus version?
A: Yes Adaware is and will of course remain freeware. The plus version does not mean that
the regular Ad-aware programm is restricted in any way. The main difference is that Ad-watch
is included with Ad-aware plus. For more info, look here.
Q: Can Ad-aware only remove the ads and keep the Application running?
A: No, this is not our intention (and would be illegal btw.) You have the possibility to block
the internet access of particular files, but remember that the parasite still resists on your
system, even if it is not transmitting data. Anyway, in some cases removing the spyware-system
does not harm the host application.
Q: How do i use the "reflist.sig" file, and what is it for?
A: The reflist file is used by Ad-aware like a signature file by a virus scanner. It contains
information such as what advertising system a particular component belongs and how to treat it.
After youve downloaded and unzipped this file, please move it in the Ad-aware\Ad-watch folder
and replace any former version. We will update this file frequently, please make sure you have
the latest version installed. To find out the version number, please click on the 'click here
for more information' link in the Ad-aware Titlescreen, Ad-watch will print this number in the
first line when loaded.
Q: What's up with "Web3000" you've mentoined before
A: Some Web3000 installations replace (without telling you of course) an important system
library, WSock32.dll. If Ad-aware detects that this file has been replaced by Web3000 on your
system, you'll get a warning message. If you get this message, we highly recommend you use
the Web3000 uninstaller prior removing any Web3000 references with Ad-aware.
If you run Ad-aware with the parameter /full or /auto, no Web3000 references will automatically
get deleted if WSock32.dll has been replaced.
Q: How do i get rid of this darn DoubleClick cookie?
A: Doubleclick offer an optout feature on their website, once you've installed their optout
cookie, Ad-aware will no longer mark it as spyware (it will be noticed in the logfile).
Q: What is a cookie ?
A: A Client Side Persistent Cookie is a small textfile, only a few bytes in size. It is used
to store information on your harddrive. A cookie has a limited lifetime. The size of the cookie
can never exeed 4kb.
Q: Are cookies dangerous?
A: The answer is no. A cookie is a pure textfile, and can never contain any exe files or
viruses. Only the webserver that has created the cookie can get it in return. It is impossible
for anybody else that does not have actual access to your computer to snoop around among yopur
cookies and therefore see wich sites you have visited.
However, some cookies do assign you a uniqe identifier, that means you will be identified when
you return to the website. Some personaly (i.e. Doubleclick) - some not.
Q: How long will a cookie remain on your system?
A: A cookie does not stay on your system forever. Normaly the cookie will be stored in your RAM
(Random Acess Memory) and will be deleted as soon as you close your browser. Anyhow there are
cookies that wil not be deleted, unless you do it manually.
Q: What is a secure cookie?
A: These kind of cookie can only be written to your system if your connection is encrypted.
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