User Reviews
a-squared Free
a-squared Free scans your computer for adware, malware and spyware and their traces and offers to remove or quarantine any items found during the scan. The program lacks real-time protection, schedul ...
Average of 15 user ratings: 
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- Nov 16, 2009
- For version:
- 4.5.0.21
Great on demand trojan scanner 
- Interface: 4
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 3
- Value: 3
- Overall:
I use it as a secondarily scan on downloads/system scans. I've found it to be useful as a Trojan scanner.
Review by: Mike132 (16)
Read all 16 reviews by Mike132
- Oct 25, 2009
- For version:
- 4.5.0.21
Very powerful, but...
- Interface: 4
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 5
- Overall:
Limited in scope. It will ferret out all manner of trojans and miss other malware. It is therefore a tool to use in conjunction with another recognized antispyware product. (I'll assume an antivirus is already present).
Review by: drfung (11)
Read all 11 reviews by drfung
- Sep 02, 2008
- For version:
- 3.5.0.25
Not one of my favs
- Interface: 2
- Features: 2
- Ease of use: 1
- Value: 2
- Overall:
I feel that A2 is OK, meaning better than nothing, although as many resources as it seems to use, perhaps not. I found it to be more confusing to new users than helpful, didn't find things it should have, many many FPs, and to me, is very slow. I will say that with some effort, A2 could be A+ one day but yeah, needs a lot of work in my opinion. There are far better out there.
Review by: gimpguy (370)
Read all 370 reviews by gimpguy
- Apr 16, 2008
- For version:
- 3.5.0.8
Dumbed down past usefulness
- Interface: 3
- Features: 1
- Ease of use: 3
- Value: 3
- Overall:
When they come up with alleged tracking cookies that are only identifiable as #99, # 31, etc it's time to question why even use this as a 3rd or 4th opinion---they can't even name the domain of origin or any other method to allow identification? This appears too dumbed down even for AOL users! Much too many better alternatives out there to bother with this program. The finishing touch was Emsi asked, during uninstallation, why and when reply was submitted, it crashed the program--says it all! Thanks for the effort guys, but needs some more work.
Review by: Fletch (8)
Read all 8 reviews by Fletch
- Mar 28, 2008
- For version:
- 3.1.0.20
Very pleased
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
I ran Spybot (caught 2 adware) AVG, caught nothing. My FF slow, hanging, lagging. Driving me NUTS! So have been downloading stuff from snapfiles all week. This program has caught SEVEN tracking cookies the others missed. Get this get it now. [Editor: Cookies will not cause your browser or computer to slow down]
Review by: darkocean (28)
Read all 28 reviews by darkocean
- Mar 22, 2008
- For version:
- 3.1.0.20
Very good, but ...
- Interface: 4
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 5
- Overall:
I had been using Asquared for about three years with great satisfaction. But the latest version freezes my machine while the scan process is underway. Will await a newer version to see if the problem has been resolved. Thanks to Emsisoft for a great program that has helped me out of malware problems in the past.
Review by: SilverFox (8)
Read all 8 reviews by SilverFox
- Aug 25, 2007
- For version:
- 3.0.0.349
Great program
- Interface: 4
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 5
- Overall:
I use a variety of anti-spyware programs and this is one of the better ones out there. It is updated frequently, sometimes more than once a day, and it regularly finds things that other programs don't. Using this program with a few others will keep your system clean.
Review by: mybuzz (3)
Read all 3 reviews by mybuzz
- Jul 01, 2007
- For version:
- 3.0.0.334
Recommended malware scanner
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
This program is updated regularly.Version 3.0 is yet another improvement! It has only a scanner in the free version,but that scanner has 4 different types from smart to full system scan. I haven't had a single false positive. An excellent free program!
Review by: moparmac (20)
Read all 20 reviews by moparmac
- Jun 02, 2007
- For version:
- 2.1.0.95
Slow workhorse
- Interface: 3
- Features: 2
- Ease of use: 4
- Value: 5
- Overall:
Sometimes picks up problems not seen by other programs. But VERY slow to use and update.
Review by: pantherman (15)
Read all 15 reviews by pantherman
- May 01, 2007
- For version:
- 2.1.0.95
Superb.
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
A-squared free totally rules. Dont care what the review on Snapfiles says. This is a great program. Those tiny things there might have been in the past, is WAY in the past. This will find the needle in the haystack.
Review by: Acidfreak (2)
Read all 2 reviews by Acidfreak
- Apr 08, 2007
- For version:
- 2.1.0.95
Evryone need this!!
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
This program is very nice! Download it and try that, you need this. And the best its FREE.
Review by: sweden (8)
Read all 8 reviews by sweden
- Dec 16, 2006
- For version:
- 2.1.0.12
Remarkable program
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
This is a remarkable program I had taken and downloaded to take and see how it took and compared to some of the others that I have tried for spyware and Malware etc., and this one is probably the top choice that I have found. Although I do have another spyware program installed on my machine but took and ran that one, and then this one, and this one had taken and found traces of spyware and malware that the first one skipped. I highly recommend this program and will take and recommend it to anyone I come across looking for a fantastic spyware program and "Extremely Simple" to use and uses no system resources hardly which is a big plus. Although the scan may take awhile but the good thing in the out come is that it usually picks up a lot more things then the others had missed. My thanx to the developers of this program ...
- Dec 10, 2006
- For version:
- 2.1.0.12
A real heavyweight with very little punch!
- Interface: 2
- Features: 2
- Ease of use: 2
- Value: 3
- Overall:
I thought a-squared free v2.1 was just the program to meet with my needs. Following initial installation I became rapidly disappointed with its performance. Yes, it was easy to use and it certainly has a high volume of information in its database with regards to definitions and this is easily updated. However, with such a huge volume of information it, apparently, does very little with it! This is the most disappointing aspect of a-squared. On first scanning my system the number of files/folders scanned was only a combined total 23,000+/-. It never ceases to amaze me when programs developed to do exactly the same task have such variance in the number of files/folders scanned. I have had anywhere from around 20,000 to 70,000 plus! Why the difference? I have found an alternative and will stick with it. Give a-squared a go if you want but do not expect great things. It also finds false positives.
Review by: Dragon10 (40)
Read all 40 reviews by Dragon10
- Oct 22, 2006
- For version:
- 2.0.0.310
One of the best.
- Interface: 3
- Features: 4
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 4
- Overall:
Been using this for well over a year now. Rather slow but extensive scanning along with frequent updates. Does have convenient scanning from the context menu. In independent testings A2 performed better than most programs (freeware and shareware) for detection and removal rates for trojans and malware. However it does require heavy system resource usage for startup and scanning.
Review by: alnjk01 (125)
Read all 125 reviews by alnjk01
- Oct 05, 2006
- For version:
- 2.0.0.295
Wow
- Interface: 5
- Features: 5
- Ease of use: 5
- Value: 5
- Overall:
Wow, I am amazed at how well this program works. Even with programs such as Avast, Spybot, Ad-Aware, SpywareGuard and SpywareBlaster installed, A-Squared Free usually finds something that got left behind. The Quick scan is very quick, and the full scan can take over 30 minutes on my pc, but it is well worth the wait, because it usually finds something that the others couldn't. It's easy to use and it updates very often. It scans for many different things, and their homepage for A-Sqared Free shows exactly what it looks for. The only thing it lacks is realtime protection, and that is available in the Shareware version called A-Squared Anti-malware. Anways, try A-Squared Free out and I'm sure your going to like it. Nice interface, easy to use, and I recommended it. Thanks to the author of this very useful software.
Review by: jbseventyone (11)
Read all 11 reviews by jbseventyone
