End of support for Ad-Aware SE. Upgrade to 2007

Lavasoft, the makers of Ad-Aware, have announced the end of life and support for the free version of Ad-Aware SE Personal. All users of this version are urged to upgrade to Ad-Aware 2007 Free Edition. Otherwise, if you are still using Ad-Aware SE and check for updates, you will see this message: "No updated components available."

From Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Forum:
Ad-Aware SE will be expiring Dec 31, 2007. If you haven't updated your version to Ad-Aware 2007 please do that now.

Lavasoft has made many improvements over SE, in the new version of Ad-Aware, which will allow it to better deal with the newer threats that are emerging from the dark side of the Force. The criminals behind the malware programs are not standing still, so security programs must be improved to deal with new threat techniques.

Main features of Ad-Aware 2007 Free Edition:

Free manual updates (you must initiate the check for updates)

On-demand manual scans detect and remove Trojans, worms, spyware, and other malicious programs

Full-Feature Quarantine

Repairs damage left by malware

Prevents Browser Hijacking

Internet surfing tracks erased with TrackSweep, on multiple browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera, with one click.

Incremental updates for faster downloads

Efficient computer resource footprint

Free software updates throughout license/version duration

Free support from a worldwide security volunteer network, at the Lavasoft Support Forums.

Advanced Code Sequence Identification (CSI) Technology - Ensure your privacy protection with precise detection of embedded malware including Trojans, worms, spyware, and other forms of deceptive malware.

Advanced Engine Structure - Benefit from superior program flexibility and more accurate scanning methods with all-new program architecture.

Creates System Restore Point - Easily revert to your clean system to recover from a spyware attack.

New Straightforward User Interface

Operating Systems supported:
Windows Vista (32-bit), Windows XP (Home and Pro), Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 (Pro and Server)

Web Browsers supported:
Internet Explorer (version 5.5 or higher), Firefox (version 1.5 or higher), Opera (version 9 or higher)

For a limited time, Lavasoft is providing manual downloads of definition updates for Ad-Aware SE, at this URL: http://www.lavasoft.com/support/securitycenter/blog/?cat=2 - where you can download the updates as a zip file, from http://download.lavasoft.com/public/defs.zip and install them as follows:

Close Ad-Aware SE, if it is open. Unzip the file which you have downloaded (defs.zip) to extract defs.ref and copy defs.ref to the directory where you have Ad-Aware SE installed, which is typically in "C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware SE Personal" - overwriting the existing defs.ref.

If you use Winzip you can right click on the downloaded zip file and drag it into the Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal folder, the left click on 'Extract to here'. Or, open the downloaded file with Winzip, click the "Extract" button, then navigate the folder tree to your Ad-Aware installation location and overwrite the existing "defs.ref" file. The date of the new defs will be shown in the Winzip window.

Open Ad-Aware and check to see if the new definition date and number is listed.