Any alternative to AdAware SE?

I see where the definition updates are still available as a manual download.
I tried following one of the links in one of the posts here, downloaded a zip file to the Adaware folder, expanded it. Now what? Adaware still tells me my definitions are 21 days old, but nothing is available to download.
I installed Adaware SE on my daughter's laptop. She lives 75 miles away, and has yet to come by and pick it up. But she will this coming Sunday afternoon.
She won't be able to "maintain" the program, if I don't see an immediate obvious way myself. So, is there anything out there that is as good?

 

Check to make sure you have extracted the defs.zip (extracts to defs.ref) file to the correct path:

C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware SE Personal\defs.ref

Above is the path on my computer, may be slightly different on yours.

 

Hi JohnB. I am editing my previous reply. I did not have the correct path. I unzipped to the adawarese/def folder. When I moved the file one level up to adawarese, it showed up in the program.
Where do I go to get future updates? I got the link from within another post in this forum. Could you give me a URL that I could add to my favorites folder and maybe add it to my daughter's laptop so that it would be a bit easier to find?
Thanks for your interest and willingness to help.

 

Hi again, glad to see you have it resolved. I get the SE defs files from Majorgeeks at: http://www.majorgeeks.com/

You have to check their site regularly for the latest files. Make sure you download the SE update files not the Adaware 2007 files. Also I think a "heads up" is posted in the "General Security" forum on the BBS whenever new defs files are available.

There was an error in the latest "SE212" defs file that gave false info that the defs were 700,000+ days out of date (2000yrs) This has been corrected but the latest file on Majorgeeks may not have been. I would wait until the next update comes out.

 

Ad-Aware SE is apparently being phased out and has been replaced by Ad-Aware 2007.

• What’s New in Ad-Aware 2007 Free?

If the computer is running Windows XP or Windows Vista, then you should be able to install Ad-Aware 2007 Free instead of Ad-Aware SE.

• Ad-Aware 2007 Free
  • Ad-Aware 2007 (Free, Plus, Pro) Product Comparison Chart

Ad-Aware 2007 Free apparently requires manual downloading of updates (which I think Ad-Aware SE Free also required). I expect your daughter could periodically use the "Web Update" feature in Ad-Aware 2007 to manually download and install updates.

She can periodically check the Ad-Aware Updates Blog to see if/when new updates are released (and manually download the updates from there instead of using the "Web Update" feature if she wishes.)

If the computer is running Windows XP or Windows Vista, then I suggest you uninstall Ad-Aware SE, reboot, install Ad-Aware 2007 Free, and reboot again. Try out the Ad-Aware 2007 Free application for the next couple days to see if you think that will meet your daughter's needs.

==========

Another reputable free anti-spyware program to try might be Spybot Search & Destroy. However, the current regular public release has an issue in many people's computers (including my own) with the program taking excessively long times to load after it is installed.

A beta version of Spybot Search & Destroy has been released to address this issue. At least PeteC and myself have installed the beta release which has solved the problem for us. We have not noticed any ill-effects of using the beta either.

The beta version of Spybot Search & Destroy may be downloaded directly via this link.

 

Apparently one can still manually download future updates for Ad-Aware SE (and Ad-Aware 2007) from the Ad-Aware Updates Blog:

• http://www.lavasoft.com/support/securitycenter/blog/

However, I think the "Web Update" feature in Ad-Aware 2007 is easier to use.

I use the "Pro" version of Ad-Aware 2007 though so I can't say with certainty that the Web Update feature is available in the "Free" version.

 

Back again, good info from mailman, gives you lots of options re anti-spyware.

I just downloaded the SE213 defs file from Majorgeeks/Authors site and it installed OK with no out of date error. You can find it by clicking on the "Anti-Spyware link on the left side of the page, then scroll down until you find the Adaware SE link.

 

Well, thanks to both of you.
I've had spybot search and destroy for a number of years. It grew from about 20K to nearly 100K items to search. Over the time that I had it installed on my and my wife's computers, it never found anything during its searches. I guess that's testimony to our narrow, non-adventurous ranges
of surfing. The last time I bought myself a newer computer, I didn't bother to install it, though I still maintain it for my wife on her's. Last time I ran it-still nothing. I think it would be safe to maybe get rid of it? We both have AVG7.5, A Squared, Adaware, Spyware Blaster. Is that enough, or overkill? We're with comcast, and they offer a free, comprehensive suite from MacAfee(sp?).
But, they say it doesn't play nice with what I already have, so I'm sticking with my assortment. Any opinion there? Should I dump my free programs and go with their suite? I know that both McAfee and Symantec are resource hogs, and impossible to get rid of, should you choose to try and do so.