Scan your PC for threats with free software

Locate and double-click the Ad-AwareInstall.exe file you have just downloaded and follow the prompts to install the program. We would advise removing the tick from the ‘Install Google Chrome web browser’ box. Windows needs to be restarted at the end but Ad-Aware will launch automatically when the PC restarts, displaying an initial Manage License window. This is for the paid-for version of the program, so click the Close button to continue, then click OK button on the Welcome window beneath it.

The first step to using Ad-Aware is to thoroughly scan the PC for existing malware. Click the green Scan button at the top-right of the program window and then click the Full Scan button in the main program window. This initial scan may take some time. Once it is complete, a notification may be displayed about the detection of a high-level security threat. This indicates that dangerous malware was found and you may be asked to restart Windows to complete its removal – click OK to clear this dialogue box for now, but be sure to restart Windows later.

Ad-Aware displays a summary after each scan, showing the malware it has detected. At the far right of each entry is a circular button – click it to see additional information about that particular piece of malware. Ad-Aware takes its own ‘Recommended’ action for each malware item and, in most cases, this means that it will be removed from its original location and safely ‘quarantined’ within the program. Suspicious, but not necessarily harmful, files that may count as spyware (some web cookies, for example) will be listed as Allowed Once – they will not be removed, but will be detected by subsequent scans.

With the one-off full malware scan out of the way, use the Scan System button in Ad-Aware’s main window for all future scans – they are considerably quicker. A better option, though, is to set up an automatic scan that runs to a fixed schedule. Start by clicking the button with four small squares at the bottom-left of the Ad-Aware window to switch from the current Simple mode to Advanced mode: the program window will change accordingly. Then click the Schedule a scan button to continue.

Ad-Aware will show a Scheduler view. Click the + button at the bottom-left of the window to create a new scan schedule. Once a week is a sensible scan frequency, so type an appropriate name when prompted and click the OK button. There are then three options to choose from – the type of scan, the frequency and what to do with detected malware. We want a quick background scan, so choose Smart Scan and Weekly for the first two options, and Automatic for the third so that Ad-Aware will deal with detected items without further intervention. The schedule is saved automatically, so close the Ad-Aware window to finish.

Besides scanning for installed malware, Ad-Aware actively monitors the PC for malware you may inadvertently download. Try to run a virus-infected program and Ad-Aware will intercept it, display a suitable notification and take any necessary steps to resolve the situation. It is possible to manually scan any file for malware by right-clicking it and choosing Scan with Ad-Aware from the menu that appears.