I have found that Ad-Aware, the free basic version finds the same amount of stuff when you scan regardless of if you use the deep scan option or not.

So after trying this on more than one system. Have done it on client systems, not mine. I do not see the use of the deep scan, which results in it taking a lot longer for Ad-Aware to run and it finds the same amount of information.

So does anyone else have input into the deep scan? I think it is useless unless someone can prove me wrong.

KTTD

P.S. Remeber this is the free basic edition I am using.

I think some of the options do not work as well as the paid version, but use the free version also.
It just seems to scan file, and it does not always catch all the registry entries.
I use AdAware with Hijackthis as the after check, but I keep my system very clean anyway.

I ran AdAware v6 on a friends machine once a month for the past year, in normal mode. Then discovered an old Spyware program that had been running on the machine for nine months and never detected. By switching to the full Custom scan, it was detected. Hum..

LavaSoft recommends that you use the full Custom Scan the first time you run it, and then use the quick scan after that. But that assumes you will not be getting any of the Spyware programs that are only found with the deep scan and that you will not have any of the "new additions" to the deep scan set. Hum...

I now always run the Full Custom scan. I have read that LavaSoft is considering changing the default because the current quick scan misses too many older problems.

Yes Kevin, I have noticed the same issue with the scan
I still use it once in a while just to see if it locates anything else

The full custom scan is recommended for your first scan. Some people do a custom scan once a week and after a new ref file is released (another one was just released a few minutes ago) and do a smart scan in between. This link will tell you how to set up Ad-aware for a full custom scan.

In the "suggestions" forum at Lavasoft, a user suggested changing the default to a custom scan and I'm sure the developers have noted the suggestion but we all will have to wait for the new build to see if it is done.

All versions of Ad-aware use the same ref file data base. This link explains the differences in the different versions.

i agree with mama on this.