The configuration Menu
After installing, you should customize Ad-aware to fit your purposes.
On the titlescreen, click the "Configuration"-button to get into the configuration menu.
Please notice that no changes will be saved until you click the 'Proceed' button.
To leave the options screen without saving your settings, simply click the 'Cancel' button.
Click on 'Default Settings' to reset all options.
Here's a screenshot, followed by an explanation of all options.
Mark all references found by default
If set, all items in the result list will be marked for deletion after a scan.
You can of course check\uncheck them manually too.
(On the popup menu in the list-screen, there is also an menu-item for checking\unchecking all items)
Display smart hints in Listview
If you move your mouse over the result list, you'll get additional information about an particular item.
Uncheck this option to turn this feature off.
Play alarmsound
If Ad-aware detects spyware references, a wavefile of your choice will be played if this option is checked.
Enter the filepath+name in the according textbox, or use the button beneath and browse.
Autosave logfile
Check this option, if you want Ad-aware to save a logfile everytime automatically, regardless of the scanning result.
If Ad-aware does not detect any references, the logfile will be saved after the scan.
Otherwise it will be saved after the cleaning process.
Enter a pathname of your choice in the textbox below, or use the button to browse.
If the entered path does not exist, it will be created.
You can also select an shared folder with write access in a network.
Scan on Windows startup
If set, Ad-aware will autostart when you start a new Windows session.
Doing an automatic scan, using the scanning options selected in this menu.
Automatically remove all references found
This is an critical option, you should not use it unless you are absolutely sure
to remove any reference of advertising system recognized by Ad-aware.
If set, Ad-aware will remove any reference automatically.
All actions performed will be written to the logfile.
If you use this feature, we highly recommend setting the 'Autosave logfile' feature as well.
Important:
If Ad-aware detects that Web3000 has been installed, and replaced Wsock32.dll,
no Web3000 references will be removed automatically.
For more information about this issue, please read the FAQ page in this manual.
Scan Memory
Ad-aware will build a list of the current running processes and search for known spyware modules.
If an module is detected, it gets unloaded automatically.
However, you'll get an info that it was running in the result window (and the logfile of course).
We recommend using this feature, as the memory scan is done in less than a second.
Scan Registry
Ad-aware will scan your registry for spyware references.
All recognized keys\values or modifications will be written to the logfile and listed in the result window.
Scanning the registry is also highly recommended.
Scan Bootdrive
The harddrive where your Windows installation persists will be scanned.
As 90 % of the known advertising systems copy files to your Windows and System folder, we
highly recommend scanning this drive once a day.
Scan all fixed drives
All fixed Harddrives (all partitions) will be scanned for known files.
This may take a while, but a complete scan is recommended from time to time
to detect all files and advertising cache folders on your system.
To save your settings permanently, click on the 'Proceed' button.
Or click 'Cancel' to leave without applying the changes.