Far too often, we come across websites that attempt to piggyback on the name "Lavasoft" or "Ad-Aware" in order to take advantage of you and your credit card.

We've recently been alerted to a site, new-official.com/adware, which charges a fee for the service they provide to consumers: offering a collection of links to free software, such as Ad-Aware 2008. Often times, these types of sites are designed to look similar to the program's original download site in order to fool consumers into believing they are paying for the legitimate software.

New-official.com/adware (shown to the left) is no different - it carries many similarities to the Lavasoft website in order to mislead customers. While this site has now been taken offline, there are many similar sites on the Net that offer all types of popular free software.

Another tactic to be on the lookout for is sites peddling rogue software. For example, the site adaware2008.com attempts to dupe users into downloading the rogue program, AdwareBot.

What do you need to know? Keep in mind that Lavasoft is in no way connected to these websites. We continue to offer Ad-Aware 2008 Free completely free of charge for home use. Visit the Ad-Aware 2008 Free product page to see a list of our legitimate download partners. To purchase our Ad-Aware 2008 Plus or Pro versions, the best way to do so is to visit the Lavasoft online store. And remember, use caution whenever you download software or make a purchase online!