Ad-Aware Pro Security

A newer version of Ad-Aware Pro Security is available.

• 1.0 stars

  "Tech Support seems to have a hidden agenda."

  July 5, 2012  |   By bwelbon

  Pros

  This company has been around long enough to have learned how to protect computers.

  Cons

  Tech support seems to be trying to make extra money for the company. This is a repeat of my review in the "Free" version.

  Summary

  I have few recommendations for my customers and this is definately NOT one of them.
  
  I have been working with computers for over 35 years, and today I was supporting one of my customers who was complaining of numerous BSODs on their computer. One of the things that I found is that they had both Ad-Aware Pro and Norton 360 installed in the computer. I removed both and installed Microsoft Security Essentials, after I scanned for infections and applied all Microsoft Security updates. After verifying that there were no infections and all the updates were properly installed, I let the computer run for over a day and a half. It ran without incident. Because of this, I returned the computer to the customer and re-installed the Ad-Aware since they had purchased it. Of course, I uninstalled MSE.
  
  I couldn't quickly find where I could enter their activation code, and since she couldn't remember her login to the Ad-Aware site, we attempted to have it emailed "immediately". Of course, it didn't arrive in anything close to a timely fashion, so we called the toll free number listed on her printed sales confirmation. This number was not available from either my cell phone or her land line, both located on the west coast of Florida. I then navigated to the Ad-Aware Pro site and found a different number to call for "Free Install & Setup Assistance". I told the agent, obviously foreign, that we had re-installed the application and we only needed to activate the software. The technician said that he would need to remotely take control of the machine and after establishing a connection, he proceeded to open the event viewer. He stated that he could not activate the software until every entry that was a warning or an error was corrected as it would harm the computer if the product was activated. He directed me to take it to Geek Squad or somewhere else to have it repaired and that only a "Microsoft Certified System Engineer" could fix it. He also said that HE could fix all of the problems over this connection for a fee of $70.00, and that it would run as if it were new. I told him (falsely) that I was Certified and that is why I was there (I was a Windows 3.1 MCP). He completely ignored that and insisted that either we would have to have it fixed at the afforementioned places which would take 2 - 3 days, or he could do it today. I told him that we would just contact Customer Service and get her money back and uninstall the product. I then hung up on him.
  
  
  Upon reboot, we were presented with the register "nag" screen and I chose the "Free" version. It asked for our license key, and I entered the one on her confirmation. It surprised me when it said that her Ad-Aware PRO was now activated.
  
  
  This experience has taught me of how NOT to conduct business, and I will NEVER recommend this software to anyone!

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1 reply to this review

• Reply by LavasoftSupport on July 6, 2012

  Dear bwelbon,
  
  Thank you for your post. I am sorry you encountered these issues with our 3rd party call center. We at Lavasoft do offer a free tech support via email, unfortunately tech support by phone is done from a 3rd party company at a fee. I will send this complaint to them and ensure that this issue does not reproduce itself again. As for the BSOD's this was in fact caused by having 2 AV's installed on one PC.
  
  If any support is required please use this link to contact our in-house technical support team 24/7:
  http://www.lavasoft.com/mylavasoft/support/supportcenter/adaware_critical_problem_report
  
  Please accept my sincere apologies,
  
  Kind regards,
  Corina - Lavasoft support

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