The AdawareTM story
In the late 1990s computer users were beginning to encounter new variations of spyware and malware not covered by existing antivirus products. Users were faced with pop-ups, decreased computer performance and frequent interruptions. In response to the shifting online landscape, Nicholas Stark and Ann-Christine Åkerlund established the company originally known as Lavasoft AB and launched its flagship product, Ad-Aware.
Our company launched the first commercial anti-spyware product and was the first to provide a no-strings-attached free security product for home use. Then known as Lavasoft, Adaware was a founding member of the Anti-Spyware Coalition, a trade organization focused on best practices in the anti-spyware and anti-malware industry. In 2002, they moved the company headquarters to Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2011, Lavasoft software was acquired by the Solaria Fund and moved its headquarters to Montreal, Canada. Our company has continued to expand on its free antivirus solutions and added malicious URL filtering products, ad blockers, and a secure web browser to its product line.
In October 2013, Lavasoft software released Ad-Aware 11. The new version of its flagship antivirus product incorporated BitDefender’s award winning antivirus engine and combined it with Adaware’s existing anti-malware technology. The partnership signaled a new direction for our company, finding and licensing the best third-party technology solutions for our line of products.
In 2015, Adaware partnered with Avira and licensed their cloud-based malicious URL (MURL) database and program classification service (AUC). The cloud-based malicious URL list is used as part of our company’s malicious URL filter.
In 2016, our company chose to promote its product under Adaware software to reflect the evolution of the brand and the success of its flagship antivirus software. Adaware’s flagship commercial application, Adaware Antivirus, has been downloaded over 390,000,000 times.
In 2018, our company joined Avanquest Software, one of the world’s top 10 leading B2B software publishers. With a portfolio of software products unique in terms of functionality, price and accessibility and ease-of-use, Avanquest improves the digital lives of its customers in more than 160 countries every day.