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.

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.