Ad-Aware Total Security

Ad-Aware Total Security is an all-in-one security suite that includes everything you'll need to keep you safe online.

The program combines two antivirus engines, for instance, to ensure the best possible performance when detecting and removing known viruses, spyware, rootkits, trojans, keyloggers and more. Strong real-time protection modules also look for suspicious behaviour and use cloud-based data to detect brand new and undiscovered threats.

Browsing protection includes an antiphishing filter that automatically blocks phishing and malware-ridden sites. And other web content is processed before it's displayed, so that known dangerous links can be blocked before you ever have the chance to click them.

The firewall is excellent, automatically protecting your PC from incoming attacks and unauthorised outgoing connections, while keeping alerts and warnings to the absolute minimum.

And Ad-Aware Total Security monitors every other area that might be vulnerable to attack. So a spam filter uses a combination of techniques to keep your inbox free of junk; a webmail module adds an additional layer of protection for browser-based email access; and files transferred via instant messaging are checked, with infections being removed before they can even reach your hard drive.

And there's still more: parental controls, online backup (with 1GB of free server space), secure file deletion and an undelete program, even a system tuner to clean up your hard drive, optimise the Registry, and more. An impressive list, but then it's not called Total Security for nothing.

Verdict

Ad-Aware Total Security is a comprehensive, powerful and highly configurable security suite that includes everything you need to keep your PC safe from harm