In the game to keep spyware off of our systems, there are many free products available that do a fine job. But one of the things that most experts in the field all agree upon is that no one product catches everything. Over the years I have come to rely upon a number of free products to try and keep my system spyware free. One of these software products is Lavasoft Ad-Aware which I have used for the past couple of years in conjunction with other free products.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 has been in Beta testing for several months. Some of you may have recalled a previous posting in which I suggested trying the new Beta product. It seems that Lavasoft was bombarded with requests, but once things were straightened out, many of you tried the test product.

So I have been testing the new and vastly improved Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 for the past week and I must say I think it is great. Two things I like about the new software is that is scans a lot quicker than the older version. On my system with about 15G of files it was done in 6 minutes flat. The second thing I found easier was the ability to tell the system to ignore cookies that I want to keep. I know. Some of you say cookies are bad, but some I use just for convenience sakes. I’m getting lazy in my old age.

On the Lavasoft site they describe their new product as:

What’s New In Ad-Aware 2007 Free?

• Redesigned Engine – Benefit from superior program flexibility and more accurate scanning methods with all-new program architecture.
• Improved Code Sequence Identification (CSI) Technology – Boost your privacy protection with precise detection of embedded malware, including known and emerging threats.
• Incremental Definition File Updates – Save precious time and resources with smaller update files resulting in faster download times.
• TrackSweep - Control privacy by erasing tracks left behind while surfing the Web on Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera, with one easy click.
• Multiple Browser Support – Choose Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera with expanded browser support.
• New Straightforward User Interface – Effortlessly maneuver the complexities of malware detection and removal with our new user-friendly interface.

If you are still using the older Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE I would highly recommend that you switch to the new 2007 version. You won’t regret changing over and your system will thank you as well.

A copy of the new Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 can be obtained for a free download from here. Get it.

Comments welcome.

[tags]lavasoft, ad-aware 2007, free, software, spyware, [/tags]