Insufficient privileges to install Ad-Aware?

[Mercuryme]

I am not sure where to post this. I am trying to download Ad-Aware 2008
and I keep getting the following message:

"error 1920 service aawservice (aawservice) failed to start Verify thatyou have sufficient privileges to start system services"

I don't understand it, or about the privileges. I've always been able to d/load it before. I just had to do a system recovery and maybe something has changed, but I lost this program so that is why I am trying to d/load it again.
Can anyone help please?

[chaslang]

This is not really an malware issue. Why did you have to do a system recovery and is that what you did or did you do a System Restore?

[Mercuryme]

I don't have a malware/spyware problem. I am just re d/loading this program because I lost it doing a system RECOVERY. I had to do the recovery because it would not let me into my own computer asking for a password that I never created in the first place. Now I get the message
stated above whenI try to download Ad-Aware.

I am not sure where to put this post on MG because it is a spyware program I am trying to download. Maybe it should be in Windows XP. I am just trying to find out why I am getting this message

"error 1920 service aawservice (aawservice) failed to start Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services"

[chaslang]

If you are sure that you do not have malware on your PC then post in the Software Forum. Sounds like your Recovery did something to mess up system permissions/user priviledges.

Note if you are botting your PC without requiring a login and password, you are asking for trouble. Malware loves people who don't password protect their PCs. You need to work thru the below when you get your permissions issue resolved. And not Ad-Aware is not in these steps because it is quite inadequate these days.

How to Protect yourself from malware!

[Mercuryme]

Thank you for your reply. I am addressing each portion of your reply.

Strangely enough I was able to download Ad-Aware 2007 with no problems, but not the 2008 version. I did note that the 2008 version asks if you want to either install for everyone that uses the computer or for (insert name). I was reading another post about someone having the same problem and they solved it by selecting a dot next to the place provided for a name. Hmmm.

So I note that you feel Ad-Aware is inadequate. I can tell you this: because I could not d/load Ad-Aware I decided to get the FREE version of Spyware Doctor. VERY Bad choice. I was waiting 9 minutes to get on I.E., with incomplete loading, my Outlook Express stopped working, it was a nightmare. Nothing worked. Then I remembered that I d/loaded Spyware Doctor just before all this happened.

With nothing to lose, I did a complete uninstall of Spyware Doctor (and they don't want to let you go) and the difference was like night and day. Everything worked super fast as it did before the download. This has me convinced that these spyware programs can cause more trouble than they are worth. I only use one spyware program. The one time I did have Malware recently which I could not remove, I downloaded a different spyware program that did remove it and then I uninstalled the program.

Re: your comments on passwords. The whole issue which made me do the recovery came from the password thing. I started getting a message to the effect that I did not have administrator rights when I went to msconfig/startup to uncheck something. If I ignored the message it went away and I was able to still do the msconfig thing. However, with my mind always ticking I decided to look into the administrator thing. Bad move - should have left well alone. I went in and created a password, and closed up that evening and thought nothing more of it. Next morning as I turned on my computer a blank screen came up with a sign in request. Thinking, oh okay I'll just put in the password - wrong, it said it was not the right password. I know I put in the right one, but okay I tried again. Still could not get in so I went into safe mode and went to user accounts and put in a new password. It still would not let me in even with a carefully noted new one, so after numerous attempts, an offer from HP to solve it for $50.00, and $149.00 from Microsoft, I did the Recovery on my own. It is a pain in the neck because a lot of settings get changed and you lose parts of certain programs, etc. but now I am back to normal and so far everything is working well, no virus or spyware.

[chaslang]

Originally Posted by Mercuryme

So I note that you feel Ad-Aware is inadequate. I can tell you this: because I could not d/load Ad-Aware I decided to get the FREE version of Spyware Doctor.

The free Ad-Aware provides no protection feature and Spyware Doctor does if you are using the Starter Edition. All protection software (including antivirus, antispyware, and firewalls) will have an effect on PC performance. PC specs can play a role in how bad the performance hit is.

Originally Posted by Mercuryme

This has me convinced that these spyware programs can cause more trouble than they are worth. I only use one spyware program.

You mean antispyware scanner I suspect. Free Ad-Aware is an after the fact scanne only. It is your decision on what you want to run on your PC. However do realize that some malware can cause you signifcant data loss and even make your PC unbootable. And other malware can steal information from you (identity theft, passwords...etc). If you get any of these, you may not even know it without protection.