About Lavasoft

We are not just any anti-spyware company, we are the original anti-spyware company.

In the beginning...

The year was 1999. Germany was the place. Computer viruses were all the rage and had been making headlines for years, but the term 'spyware' was new and just beginning to show its menacing face. Computer users around the world became more and more frustrated with each passing day as the anti-virus industry remained in denial and refused to address the increasingly vicious forms of spyware and malware. Computers were running slow, pop-up windows were interrupting users, internet searches were yielding strange results, home page defaults were mysteriously changing, and that was just the beginning. Then Nicolas Stark and Ann-Christine Åkerlund decided to 'take the bull by the horns'.

In 1999, Nicolas and Ann-Christine established Lavasoft AB with the company's flagship anti-spyware product, Ad-Aware. In 2002, we moved the headquarters to Gothenburg, Sweden, where we remain today and continue to expand our global reach. With the first commercial application, Lavasoft became the pioneer of anti-spyware and continues to be a world-leader in the industry today.

Today...

Lavasoft was founded on the ideals of consumer reporting, ethical advertising, and social change. And we continue to operate on those principles today. We are not only committed to providing you with personal security by cleaning up and blocking spyware from your computer system, we are also committed to creating long-term social change. We work directly with the spyware industry, giving them the opportunity to change from 'bad guys' to 'good guys' by making acceptable improvements to their spyware.

We also work hand-in-hand with computer users that operate on the same principles as Lavasoft. Individuals can alert Lavasoft to new spyware and malware threats and know that they will be heard and taken seriously. Lavasoft in turn combines that information with their in-house research expertise to provide users around the world with updated anti-spyware - it's the 'pass it on' theory. One good deed results in another.

And Tomorrow...

With over a quarter of a billion Ad-Aware downloads worldwide, there are good things ahead! The spyware industry shows no signs of slowing down, and in fact it has become such an economic factor on the global market that the industry will surely strengthen their efforts as they continue to invade the privacy of individuals through home and office computers. Be assured, Lavasoft will be ready.