Adware - ‘Ware Series #1
There are a lot of different kinds of software available to be installed on the internet. Many of them are available for free. Others aren’t.
A lot of the time, certain terms are bandied about the net about this software, and to someone who isn’t an experienced netizen, this can be rather confusing. Even worse, most companies that produce software that is in one of the negative categories create their own definitions of these terms, so that they can artificially exclude their software from that category.
So I figured that over the next few days I would provide descriptions of these terms, and give examples of software that fits in these categories. Keep in mind, these are the terms as I use them, and some people will have differing definitions… such as anyone who produces any of the software I place in these categories.
Today we’ll start with Adware.
Adware is any software that displays advertisements on your computer as a part of it’s functionality. This can include software that uses advertisments to pay for it’s development cost, and the cost of providing servers for this software, such as AIM, MSN Live Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger.
Unfortunately, there is some Adware, which may also fall into other categories of software, that provides no functionality, but displays ads none the less. Sometimes this software is installed without your consent, and makes it as hard as possible to remove it. According to some websites, these include xxxtoolbar, and 180solutions. These programs have no purpose on your computer that is beneficial to you, and can often be harmful to the performance or stability of your system.