Definition - What does Ad-Aware mean?
Ad-Aware is an anti-virus and anti-spyware program that helps to combat the most complex forms of computer malware, spyware and adware. The anti-spyware software program was developed by Lavasoft in 1999 and is licensed under proprietary software.
Ad-Aware software can be downloaded free of charge from the official Lavasoft Ad-Aware website or from any reputable website that allows free software downloads.
Techopedia explains Ad-Aware
The Ad-Aware program aims to detect, remove and block computer viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, bots, rootkits, data miners, aggressive advertising, parasites, browser hijackers, password thieves, keyloggers and much more.
This software was originally created to highlight the Web beacons present in the Internet Explorer Web browser. On some websites, users would notice a small pixelated square beside every Web beacon, alerting them that their IP addresses and other nonessential data were being monitored by this website. Over a period of time, Ad-Aware added a new feature into the software to block these beacons or ads entirely. This feature does not make the user aware of the ads on the screen; instead, it combats spyware, malware, adware and other viruses.
Ad-Aware uses real-time detection technology to offer its Internet security service. The software has less impact on system resources than other anti-virus systems and allows users to browse the Internet with peace of mind.