With Ad-Aware 10, our commitment to offer more FREE security features than anyone else is boldly restated.

We’re porting to Ad-Aware FREE 10 more security features than it has ever had in its 12 years of history, thereby making it a direct free competitor to many of the top paid security software available on the market today.

Features such as Active Protection, Download Protection and Game Mode will now be available to freeware users – at no additional cost at all.

Enhanced Real-Time Protection

Enhanced Real-Time Protection immediately detects malware in real-time. Powered by our behavior-based heuristics scanning which blocks or suspends malicious processes and infected files that try to start or connect to your system, Ad-Aware 10's Enhanced Real-Time Protection effectively prevents malware from damaging your PC or accessing your personal files.

Some of Ad-Aware’s core technologies that were, up to now, reserved for our paid products are now featured in Ad-Aware FREE 10: scanning for real-time processes, registry attack protection (a favorite target for many malware distributors) and real-time network monitoring.

• Real-time process protection: Blocks or suspends malicious processes and infected files that try to start or connect to your system and prevents them from further infecting your system.

• Real-time registry protection: Advanced detection of attempted registry changes, a favorite target for many malware distributors. Ad-Aware 10 alerts you when a program tries to make changes to your registry, giving you the power to block the threat or to allow access.

• Real-time network protection: Monitor outgoing network traffic and block connections to blacklisted IP addresses and known malicious websites to identify and stop active threats.

Download Protection

Downloading files from the Internet and in particular from the peer-to-peer networks (P2P) or torrent sites are often loaded with a secret cargo of malware. It is becoming increasingly popular for cyber criminals to upload contaminated files into what appears to be the latest movies, software programs or even music.  

A user who inadvertently downloads such a file exposes his PC and his network to the whims of hackers and puts himself at risk of having his identity stolen or his computer turned into a zombie.

Ad-Aware FREE 10 automatically scans files before they are downloaded on your hard-drive and detects malware before it can ever be launched. Its Enhanced Real-Time Protection quarantines infected files preventing them from damaging you and the community at large.

Game Mode

Ad-Aware was the first free antivirus program to include a game mode (sometimes called silent mode).  In Game Mode, your machine remains protected while you play your games or watch a movie without the interruptions or strain on system resources that other security software programs often cause.  Game Mode suspends security alerts, system scans and auto-updates while you work or play without compromising your security.