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Upgrading from AdFender 2.x

On AdFender 2.75, setup replaces it for you; an older 2.x needs uninstalling first. Here is how to tell which you have, and what happens to your license, your own rules and your settings.

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Installing over AdFender 2.x

First check which 2.x you have: right-click the AdFender icon in the system tray and choose About.

  • Version 2.75. Download AdFender 3.0 and run the installer on that PC. Setup finds 2.75, removes it, and sets up version 3.0 in its place, including a new certificate for HTTPS filtering — there is nothing to uninstall first.
  • A version older than 2.75. Uninstall it from Windows Settings first, then install AdFender 3.0.

AdFender 3.0 needs Windows 10 or 11; on an older version of Windows, see common questions.

Your license

If your 2.x license is still inside its year, on the same PC you do not need to do anything. A few minutes after the first-run setup finishes, AdFender 3.0 checks in with our server, recognizes the PC your AdFender 2.x license was on, and switches to your license by itself. Until then the dashboard may show Trial mode; that is expected, and it changes to your license on its own. The PC needs to be online for this.

Your old code will not work in AdFender 3.0

AdFender 3.0 uses a new kind of activation code, and the activation window does not accept a code from version 2.x. If you need a code — because you are installing on a different PC, or your license did not come across after an hour online — look up your order, and we will email a new code to the address you bought with. Then right-click the AdFender icon in the system tray, choose Activate license, and enter the new code.

Your license carries over as it is: it covers one PC at a time, and keeps the end date it had in 2.x. A 2.x license that has already ended does not carry over; buy one of the current plans instead. Long-standing customers may find it shows more PCs used than they really have, because earlier versions counted a reinstall as a new PC. How many PCs one code covers explains the rule and what to do. When it is time to renew, you renew onto one of the current plans, which start at 3 PCs.

Your own filter rules

Rules you wrote or exempted in AdFender 2.x come across as they are, into Filters → My filter rules. If some of them are worth a second look, AdFender says so there, in a panel headed Let’s check your custom rules. It points out two kinds:

  • Rules in a format AdFender no longer supports. They are inactive and do nothing either way. Comment them out marks them as comments so they stop cluttering the list, and Undo puts them back.
  • Rules that turn off filtering for an entire site. These are working, which is why AdFender will not touch them for you: you may have added one to fix a site that still needs it. Review highlights them in the editor, so you can delete any you no longer need and click Save rules.

Dismiss hides the panel for good. If none of your rules needs a look, it never appears.

Your settings

Everything else starts fresh, with AdFender 3.0’s defaults: the apps it filters (the supported browsers it detects are on) and the HTTPS exclusion list. Setup asks you again whether to turn on HTTPS filtering, with nothing chosen for you, and the first-run setup asks the other important questions. Two things from 2.x need adding again by hand:

  • Other programs you filtered. Add them under Apps with Add an app.
  • Sites you excluded from HTTPS filtering. Add them on the dashboard under HTTPS filtering, then Manage exclusion list.

Version 3.0 also has things version 2.x did not, such as the Privacy page: what the Privacy switches do.

Did this answer it?

If not, one of these may be closer to what you are seeing:

  • Installing, uninstalling and system requirementsWhat AdFender needs, the two choices setup asks you to make, and what the uninstaller keeps unless you tell it otherwise.
  • License messages and what they meanAdFender says “Protection is off”? Trial expired, license expired, trial not verified, revoked, or not active on this PC: what each one means and how to get filtering back.
  • How many PCs one code coversOne code works on 3, 5 or 10 PCs at the same time, depending on your plan. How to free a PC, move to a new one, and why reinstalling on the same PC uses nothing up.

Still need help? Contact us and tell us what you tried.