Battle Avast 2014 free or Ad-aware 11 av free

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dwarfin

Level 1
Thread author
Verified
Aug 16, 2013
40
Which one is better in your opinion ? Avast 2014 is very light on ram, and uses some kind of stream updates, its updating even every minute. Ad-aware 11 uses bitdefender engine and lack some options compared to avast .
 

Ink

Administrator
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 8, 2011
22,361
Ad-Aware 11 Free uses the Bitdefender engine, and like Bitdefender Free AV it lacks configurable settings. Lavasoft requires you to Register the product to receive updates. (See image below or here);


Likewise with Bitdefender Free AV, where you need a registered account to continue to use their product.

Avast 2014 offers more configuration settings, but less compared to previous versions. Although Avast asks for an email address to activate the Free 1 year License, it does not require an account. If you do get a My.Avast account it can be deleted without any problems (see footer of my.avast.com)

As a whole experience, I would choose Avast 2014 (v9) as the better product. As well as I've been using avast on-off since v4.7 paired with Ad-Aware 1.06SE free (when it was an spyware scanner) during the Windows XP SP2 days.
 

aztony

Level 9
Verified
Oct 15, 2013
501
Have never used Ad-aware in its new iteration with an AV scanner, so cannot comment to its efficacy. Avast on the other hand I've used since version 4, except for the past 2 yrs due to stability issues on my PCs. As long as Avast is stable you'd be hard pressed to find a better overall free AV solution.
 

LS Andy

New Member
Jun 3, 2013
7
Depending on your definition of 'better', Ad-Aware 11 is arguably better than avast.

Regarding detection rates, I did some in-house detection tests on the run up to the release of Ad-Aware 11 comparing amongst others, Ad-Aware 11 and avast! 2013. The tests were designed to replicate the methodologies used by Virus Bulletin, AV-Test etc. In these tests, Ad-Aware outperformed avast!. The tests were carried out just before avast! 2014's release, but it's reasonable to say that avast 2014 would perform similarly.

If you want to see the raw data, you can download the results from my Dropbox folder: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43298762/AA%2011%20In%20House%20Testing.7z

These tests were really intended as QA for Lavasoft, not for public consumption - because they were conducted by Lavasoft it leaves them open to accusations of bias or manuipulating the results, which is understandable. I personally conducted the tests and can assure you that there was no manipulation or finessing done to the results. We'd just be cheating ourselves - they were for QA puposes.

Anyway, since there is no other third party data yet available that compares the two applications, hopefully this raw data provides hard facts that help make the case for Ad-Aware's capabilites versus avast's. If you like what you see, you can download Ad-Aware 11 here: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Enjoy! :)

Andy
Lavasoft Malware Labs
 

Ink

Administrator
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 8, 2011
22,361
Ad-Aware Free only has detection rates to rely on, where as Avast! Free has Behavioural with Auto-Sandboxing and a decent Web Shield - all without any unwanted toolbars or hidden catches.

Avast users can also perform a custom installation to modify their program to their needs, I saw no option in Lavasoft Ad-Aware 11 Free.

avast! clearly has the advantage.
 

aztony

Level 9
Verified
Oct 15, 2013
501
One thing I've notice that is a total turn-off for me regarding Ad-aware free is a screen shot of the GUI. 90% of the modules are grayed out, meaning those features can only be accessed in the paid offering. The free version is clearly an upsell platform.
 

LS Andy

New Member
Jun 3, 2013
7
Thanks for the feedback, aztony & Earth.

@ Earth - Ad-Aware has those features too, but I get that you don't care for the toolbar. That said, the toolbar does not make Ad-Aware less good at blocking and detecting malware - in fact, it includes a malicious URL blocker, so you could say that it enhances security. If you're not a fan of toolbars (and many people aren't) maybe you'd prefer something else we're working on: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/adblocker.php

@ aztony - Lavasoft has always given Ad-Aware away for free. If people want to buy it, great! If not, we're 100% ok with that. That said, would you prefer a GUI that doesn't show the Pro features?

@ all: I can pass any constructive comments, criticism or suggestions to our dev team, so fire away.

OP asked which product was better, so I started by pointing out that 'better' is subjective then stated the case for Ad-Aware. The detection rates we saw helped us at Lavasoft recognise that Ad-Aware has extremely high detection and protection rates and utimately that's what matters. The tests showed Ad-Aware performed better at detection and blocking than avast regardless of which detection mechanism was used, be it analysis in an emulated/sandbox environment, behavioural/heuristic detection, pattern matching etc.

If I was trying to make a decision, I'd give data more weight than opinion every time. Hopefully the data I shared will help OP, or anyone reading, make an informed decision! :)

Andy
Lavasoft Malware Lab
 

aztony

Level 9
Verified
Oct 15, 2013
501
@ aztony - Lavasoft has always given Ad-Aware away for free. If people want to buy it, great! If not, we're 100% ok with that. That said, would you prefer a GUI that doesn't show the Pro features?
Actually, yes, I would prefer that there were no modules on the GUI of the free version that are pay for features. I get that your free program is minimalist, take it or leave it. So is Panda Cloud and Bitdefender free, and their GUIs reflect that.
 

LS Andy

New Member
Jun 3, 2013
7
aztony said:
@ aztony - Lavasoft has always given Ad-Aware away for free. If people want to buy it, great! If not, we're 100% ok with that. That said, would you prefer a GUI that doesn't show the Pro features?
Actually, yes, I would prefer that there were no modules on the GUI of the free version that are pay for features. I get that your free program is minimalist, take it or leave it. So is Panda Cloud and Bitdefender free, and their GUIs reflect that.

Fair enough - I'm not sure I like it that the non-free features are visible but not available either. It doesn't make Ad-Aware less good at malware protection/detection, but it's just... I can't put my finger on it. I agree with you. :)

I'll pass your comment along to the product manager.

Andy
 

dwarfin

Level 1
Thread author
Verified
Aug 16, 2013
40
Actually im using ad aware 11 on my laptop with win 7. Everything goes smooth so far but you should work a little bit on memory consumption.
 

Jaspion

Level 17
Verified
Jun 5, 2013
835
I'm testing it and so far I'm impressed. Yes, it's a little heavy on RAM, but the program works very fast in terms of real-time protection. And the detection rates do seem very good. I'll be testing some more.

About the interface, I surely prefer Ad-Aware Free to Bitdefender Free or Panda Cloud Free. Both free versions of Panda and Bitdefender have problems, Panda is minimalist but slow, and in its minimalism they find a way to squeeze an expanding ad on the main GUI. I much prefer Ad-Aware's unobtrusive greyed-out features. And Bitdefender Free has only a fleeting interface that is terrible to work with – whenever you click out of it, it disappears! – not to mention it is unfathomably slow to scan, among other issues.

I do agree, however, that a free product looks better if it has its own interface with just its features. Maybe one way to go is add an option (like PDF-XChange Viewer free, I think it has this feature) to hide the buttons that are unavailable in the free version.
 

aztony

Level 9
Verified
Oct 15, 2013
501
Both free versions of Panda and Bitdefender have problems, Panda is minimalist but slow...
I am aware of issues with BD free, and not just with the UI. What issues are you referring to with Panda Cloud?
 

Amiga500

Level 12
Verified
Jan 27, 2013
661
LS Andy said:
Depending on your definition of 'better', Ad-Aware 11 is arguably better than avast.

Regarding detection rates, I did some in-house detection tests on the run up to the release of Ad-Aware 11 comparing amongst others, Ad-Aware 11 and avast! 2013. The tests were designed to replicate the methodologies used by Virus Bulletin, AV-Test etc. In these tests, Ad-Aware outperformed avast!. The tests were carried out just before avast! 2014's release, but it's reasonable to say that avast 2014 would perform similarly.

If you want to see the raw data, you can download the results from my Dropbox folder: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43298762/AA%2011%20In%20House%20Testing.7z

These tests were really intended as QA for Lavasoft, not for public consumption - because they were conducted by Lavasoft it leaves them open to accusations of bias or manuipulating the results, which is understandable. I personally conducted the tests and can assure you that there was no manipulation or finessing done to the results. We'd just be cheating ourselves - they were for QA puposes.

Anyway, since there is no other third party data yet available that compares the two applications, hopefully this raw data provides hard facts that help make the case for Ad-Aware's capabilites versus avast's. If you like what you see, you can download Ad-Aware 11 here: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Enjoy! :)

Andy
Lavasoft Malware Labs

With all due respect andy you work for lavasoft so your naturally going to say ad-aware is better lol.

But im open minded so give us some factual test results to see your claim as a reality.
 

Jaspion

Level 17
Verified
Jun 5, 2013
835
There are many issues with Panda Cloud Free. It restores viruses from the quarantine, ignores exclusions, and has a sluggish although minimalistic UI.
 
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