Editors' Note: This product reached end of life on September 5, 2023, though Adaware will support existing users for at least a year. The company continues to offer utilities for tune-up, VPN, ad blocking, and more. For our top recommendations for free antivirus protection, please see our list of the best free antivirus utilities.
If you look back in time far enough, you can find antivirus software that strictly aims to protect against computer viruses, because other kinds of malware were uncommon at best. As the problems of adware and spyware emerged, some security companies focused on those. That was the origin of Ad-Aware. Like virtually all modern antivirus products, the current Adaware Antivirus Free aims to quash all types of malware. In our current evaluation its scores rose, but it still lacks many features found in the best free competitors.
Most antivirus products get an updated review with a new release each year or so. Not Adaware—at least, not lately. Its website seems stuck in 2017. However, by observation its malware signature definitions are totally current, and that’s the most important thing for a product like this. Adaware’s paid editions use advanced techniques including behavior-based detection, but the free edition relies on simply pattern recognition.
Getting Started With Adaware
In testing, installation went quickly. The installer advised a reboot for full protection, but at the same time it started downloading the latest signature updates. After that, it would have run a full scan, but I halted it and performed the requested reboot. The product also requires that you register your free copy and offers to send informative emails to the registered address. Don’t worry; you can decline the Inbox-fillers if you wish.
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Adaware’s main window is mostly white, with orange buttons and a status bar across the bottom that’s green when all is well, red if action is needed. A left-rail menu holds icons for accessing various security components; pointing at an icon expands it to a full-sized button with a title. Note, though, that most security functions and many settings aren’t available. It’s easy to see because unavailable items are replaced by a big orange Upgrade button.
Adaware’s full scan on a standard clean test system took just over an hour, which is about average. The scan window shows progress as well as elapsed time and estimated time remaining. That last figure gave some cause for alarm. Early on it looked like the full scan would take more than two hours. Fortunately, as the scan progressed the total time tightened up. Erring on the side of overestimating the time is certainly better than the reverse.
Adaware seems to perform some optimization to speed subsequent scans, but a second scan still took 40 minutes. Others have sped up the process by vastly more. Kaspersky’s initial scan took about 80 minutes while a second scan ran in a tenth the time. Avira Free Security went from 105 minutes down to five.
No Lab Test Results Available
I closely follow test result reports from four independent antivirus labs around the world. When a product appears in any report, it means the lab found it significant enough to spend time on, and the company budgeted for the cost of testing. In the past, Adaware frequently appeared in reports from AV-Comparatives and less frequently in those from AV-Test Institute. However, it’s been a couple years since either of these labs put Adaware up on the rack for testing. At present, this product doesn’t have any labs vouching for its efficacy.
It’s true that security companies pay the labs for inclusion in testing (which also gets them detailed results). Maybe it’s not fair to expect the maker of a free product to pay up? But all four of the labs we follow include Avast, Avira, and Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center, all of which are free. Our aggregate lab results algorithm, which yields a score from 0 to 10, rates these at 9.7, 9.7, and 9.1 respectively. Kaspersky’s free security suite includes all the antivirus protection of the company’s paid products, which took a perfect 10-point aggregate lab score.
Our Own Tests
In the absence of any information from the labs, our own hands-on tests are the only proof we’ve got that an antivirus works (or doesn’t). Even for products that get plenty of lab scores, hands-on testing lets us experience how each product handles malware.
Our basic malware protection test starts when we open a folder containing a hand-collected and curated set of malware samples. Just opening the folder is enough to trigger real-time protection in many products. Others wait until each sample is about to launch. Adaware started slowly removing samples the moment we opened that folder.
It took a while, but the antivirus wiped out 90% of our samples at this stage. We went on to launch the samples that survived. In a few cases it detected some executable component of the malware installation, but in each of those cases it missed other executable files. It’s worth noting that a feature titled Active Virus Control, which detects malware based on process behavior, is reserved for the paid premium edition.
Overall, Adaware earned 9.2 of 10 possible points, the same score as Bitdefender and Avast. Tested against this same collection of samples, Malwarebytes Premium managed a perfect 10, McAfee came next with 9.9, and Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus took the bronze with 9.8. Adaware’s score is quite a bit better than the last time we tested it.
I maintain a second set of samples, twisted versions of the main collection. I take each sample, rename it, append nulls to change the file size, and tweak some non-executable bytes. The point of this exercise is to find too-rigid signature-based detection systems. It’s not uncommon for antivirus products to detect the twisted versions exactly as they did the originals. Adaware missed 30% of the modified ones, suggesting its signature-based system could use more flexibility.
Collecting and analyzing real-world malware samples takes a lot of time, so that sample set necessarily remains static for months. To check how products handle the very latest malware and the web-based sources of such malware, we use a daily feed of malware-hosting URLs generously supplied by London-based lab MRG-Effitas. The test is simple. We launch each URL and note whether the antivirus steers the browser away from danger, wipes out the malware payload during or immediately after download, or sits by idly doing nothing. We give equal credit for blocking access to the URL and for wiping out the malware download.
Once we have enough data points, we run the numbers. In Adaware’s case, web-level protection is reserved for paying customers, so we didn’t record any protection at that level.
The real-time antivirus caught 86% of the malware downloads, somewhat awkwardly. For some, the browser simply reported that the file could not be downloaded. Others triggered an error at the stage when the downloaded temp version gets copied to its final location, warning “You’ll need to provide administrator permission to copy this file.” All this happens without a peep from Adaware. Finally, 15 to 20 seconds later, Adaware displays a popup notification that it detected a threat.
That 86% protection figure puts Adaware in the bottom third of current products. At the top, McAfee AntiVirus Plus achieved 100% protection. Sophos Home Free managed 99%, and Windows Defender reached 97% protection.
See How We Test Security Software
No Bonuses Here
You'd think that antivirus companies would put the bare minimum of necessary malware protection functions in the free product, rewarding those who upgrade by giving them bonus features. It makes sense, right? However, many vendors turn this concept on its head. For example, Avast Free Antivirus and others include detection of dangerous URLs in the free product, something Adaware omits. Avast also offers advanced heuristic scanning, a network inspection tool, a vulnerability scanner, a hardened browser, and even a password manager!
It's Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
Panda Free Antivirus doesn't go quite as far, though it does include the web protection that's missing in Adaware. It also gives you USB protection, a process monitor for advanced users, and a bootable USB scanner that's easy to create and use.
As for Adaware, what you don't get is very evident. On the home screen, all features except malware scanning and real-time protection require an upgrade. The behavioral detection system called Active Virus Control likewise needs payment. Everything on the Web Protection, Email Protection, and Network Protection pages is locked. If you like getting the most bang for the bucks you aren’t paying, Adaware is not your top choice.
You Can Do Better
Windows users have a free antivirus built in. Switching to a third-party free antivirus only makes sense if your new choice can beat the built-in. That’s not the case with Adaware Antivirus Free. It earned decent scores in our hands-on malware protection test, but none of the big testing labs report on its capabilities. In addition, we found the company to be unresponsive. Getting hold of an active contact required invoking a personal connection to a one-time CEO of the company. The average consumer with a question may not have such a contact to draw on. Sure, it’s free, but you can do better even at that price.
In the realm of free antivirus, we’ve named two Editors’ Choice picks. One is Kaspersky Security Cloud Free. This product is a stripped-down version of the high-end Kaspersky Security Cloud suite. You get high-scoring antivirus protection plus some (but by no means all) of the suite features for a cost of exactly nothing. The other top pick is Avast Free Antivirus. Avast, too, gets excellent lab scores and it includes a powerful network security scanner among its many bonus features.
If you’re going to replace the antivirus built into Windows with a third-party free solution, you want one that will beat the OS's integrated protection. Adaware Antivirus Free is improving, but it still doesn’t meet that standard.
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