Thoughts about everything

Its time for an update – Lavasoft released a new “big” version of their software; Ad-aware. Before we start I must say that since I wrote my previous guide things got a bit different there. For example for a few weeks it detected one of its own DLL-s as a malware – which is odd and weird, while other times it had server issues (couldn’t update it), but right now it seems that they finally fixed those issues. Another issue was that after update even though the updater reinitialized the software it didn’t start. This problem seemed to be fixed – or at least for the first update.

So let’s start!

First, you should uninstall your current version and reboot your computer. While there are people who say it is unnecessary, I got tons of “why this and that doesn’t work, why it exist with random error” related questions so First uninstall and REBOOT.

Than visit http://www.lavasoft.com/ and download the software.

Double click on the software and soon you will be able to select your language.

If you are Running Windows 7 or Vista, install it in Administrator Mode!









After you selected it click OK and it will take you to the next screen. Click on the “Next” button.
READ the license than click on “I accept the terms of the license agreement” Now click on “Customize installation” and it will take you to the so called “advanced” section.
Here you can set up your installation directory as well as shortcut settings. After you set it up click on next.





Now you will have an option to install Google Chrome. Personally I’d stick with FF (Firefox), but if you want to try it its up to you. Click on “Install Ad-Aware Only” than click next.



Now this will take you to a tricky section. Ad-Watch live is available only if you buy the software, so even if you decide to install it all you’ll get is another process to waste your memory.
There is a new option called “Download Guard for Internet Explorer”.
Personally I think that anyone who uses IE for other purposes than access to Windows / Microsoft Update should be shot and hanged immediately. For God Sakes USE Firefox OPERA OR EVEN CHROME! Obviously you won’t need it this thing either.



Click on next than Install. After the installation is complete, click on finish and it will open up the software. (YAY) Or not?
[It will start to update itself – May I ask why? I expected to get a new version with current database but what you get right now is a not up to date software, since neither the definitions nor the program files are up to date… Oh well]





So anyways after the update you expect to be able to run it. But guess what? It applies a new patch before you could say: “Fuck” and restarts itself immediately. So after the second update it’ll be up and running.
You’ll see a message about the new “outlook”. It starts in simple mode - a new feature – which is totally nonsense – so click on the advanced mode icon which is located on the left corner and you’ll be surprised to see that it is the exact same as it was in the previous edition.











When you click on settings you’ll see that most of the settings are the same. There are some new features but you have to buy it if you want to use them (you probably won’t do either xD)
In the Update section you’ll notice Threatwork Alliance as a new feature – it sends information about your results – totally unnecessary if you ask me but if you feel like giving out information it’s up to you.



The profile Scan section remained the same – don’t forget to unselect the “Skip larger files than” option – unless you don’t want to scan big files.




Under the Live section you can’t really change anything – unless you buy it.





Under customize there is a new –unavailable feature - Called “Do not disturb” – sounds pointless anyways. If you are annoyed by its icon on your taskbar you can unselect “Show notification Area Icon” Also if you don’t want to use or see it in the right-click menu you can unselect that too. You can also change the language and skin if you want to. If you are done click OK. You are done configuring – YAY.





Now lets more to the Scan section – because obviously you gonna scan your computer right?

The same scan methods are available – Smart, Full, and profile. You can set up the profile scan in the settings under profile scan but you should rather stick to the first two – profile and smart.
A smart scan checks only the critical areas while the full scan scans the whole drive. You should check your computer every day once with smart scan and a full scan once per week.








Under Quarantine you can see your quarantined items - if you have one – and under ignore list you shouldn’t see anything – nor should you ignore anything.






Settings under Ad-Watch are obviously unavailable.





Under Extras in the TrackSweep section you can clean your tracks if you want to – and you can’t really do anything under the toolbox section.




Now that we know everything about Ad-aware we should start a smart or full scan. I recommend a full scan for the first time.

After it is done, you can select what to do with the results – leave it on recommended or select remove all – it’s the same






After it is done for the first time it’ll show up the Threatwork Alliance notification – thank God you only have to click once on “No Thanks” and it won’t ever show up again.






Summing it up I think that during the last few months they fixed the most noticeable issues, made their software faster and it is starting to worth money again.


This is the end of the guide – if you have any question feel free to leave a comment.


©By Stomyr

Ppl keep asking me about this topic.
What is the difference between Blizzard and Private server?
I’ll try to put into a list the pros and cons.

Prices:

First of all if you wish to play with WOW at Blizzard’s Battle.net, you have to first buy it. It costs approx. 30-50 $ (With the expansion The Burning Crusade)
Also you have to pay a monthly fee which varies from country to county – from 30 to 80$.
If you wish to play on private servers you DO NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. Since blizzard released a WOW-client YOU DO NOT EVEN NEED TO BUY THE GAME – YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT LEGALLY FOR FREE. (It takes an awful lot of time – so you should buy it for that price)(Also in most countries they give you 1 free month, so you’ll have time to decide if you wish to stay at Blizzard or go to private servers)

Population and lag:

The second biggest difference is that a lot of ppl experiences lag issues at Blizzard.
On a private server you probably WON’T EVER EXPERIENCE LAG ISSUES.
HOWEVER
70% of the private servers have low population (under 100ppl), so if you prefer crowded Blizzard servers (over 500 ppl) you won’t have fun on them.

Quest issues.

You won’t really experience quest issues at Blizzard – HOWEVER on PRIVATE servers there are a LOT OF QUEST BUGS. SOME CAN BE FIXED BUT THE MOST OF IT CANNOT. ESCORT QUESTS CANNOT BE FIXED – because they are “server dependant”.
FEW of them CAN be fixed, but 97% CANNOT be fixed.
Also on private servers sometimes there are missing quests and you have to report them.


Talents and abilities:

At Blizzard there are no talent / ability bugs.

BUT

At private servers there are bugged ability quests, but those can be bypassed. (You won’t receive experience / reputation for competing them though)
Also there are TALENT BUGS AND ABILITY BUGS ON PRIVATE SERVERS WHICH CANNOT BE FIXED – SO you HAVE TO WAIT till THE DEVELOPERS FIX IT.
And the developers tend to fix only “useful” abilities.

GM-s and Security:

At Blizzard normally you don’t have to fear that your account will be hacked (that doesn’t mean that it cannot be hacked)

HOWEVER

There are idiot jerks (or Blizzard employees – only God knows) who tend to hack into private servers, ruining the server, and deleting / modifying accounts.
A talented server holder can fortify defenses, And makes backups EVERY DAY so even if somebody fucks up your account the “owner” can fix it.

At Blizzard you may have ONLY ONE ACCOUNT – however ON PRIVATE SERVERS YOU MAY HAVE AS MANY AS YOU WISH. THERE ARE RULES THOUGH – SO ALWAYS READ THE RULES BEFORE YOU’LL GET YOURSELF BANNED.


At Blizzard if somebody cheats the person will get caught – sooner or later.
(In the end of 2006 an entire guild has been banned at Blizzard because they cheated)
(They cheated for moths – but they got caught)

THE FUNNY THING IS THAT IF YOU CHEAT ON A PRIVATE SERVER YOU’LL GET YOURSELF BANNED – MOST OF THE TIMES INSTANTLY – Because the developers know almost every single existing cheat even before Blizzard notices it – it depends on the owner if he/she knows enough to install / setup them

Blizzard GM-s are often rude, and not really helpful – HOWEVER At PRIVATE SERVERS the GM’s are mostly helpful – and they are mostly happy to help.


So as you see there are a pros and cons.
If you would like to play w/o bugs you have to pay for it – but if you don’t mind bugs – or you don’t want to pay, you can go to a private server.




© by Stomyr