Adware is a sneaky little devil of a program that can hide all over the Internet. All those fun free downloads and your favorite websites are the perfect places for adware to hide, making it extremely difficult to escape. This article will help you learn the most prevalent hiding places and give you advice on preventing an adware from making itself at home on your computer.
Freeware – It is said that freeware can be found predominately in freeware. This is due to the fact that freeware doesn’t cost anything, and most adware and pop-up software are found to be supporting it. Freeware, as the name suggests, is totally free and can be downloaded and used by anyone without cost, and all the originator of the software really desires here is credit for their work. Don’t confuse this with open-source software, despite their similarities. What’s the main difference? Users of freeware can not only download the software, but you are only allowed to modify open-source software, whereas that’s not the case with freeware.
Due to the giveaway nature of freeware, the authors will not charge for it, but will pay the expenses of the freeware on their own. However, they may ask for donations or bundle adware with the gratis freeware. You can see how the freeware developers will go for bundling with adware to finance their software, as donations can be rare.
Shareware – The next most common place where adware can be found is in shareware. Shareware is very similar to freeware, including the bundling of adware. Both shareware and freeware are very much the same (both being free to use and download), but in the case of shareware, the author will actively ask for donations for using their software. Although this cannot really be enforced and works on the honor system, any donations received will keep the shareware project alive and up to date.
The obvious weaknesses of this honor system of payment is why adware also shows up in shareware, as quite often people will download the shareware and use it for free without any payment towards it. To help support the shareware financially, advertisers are happy to pay to have their adware bundled with the shareware in question. While this is not the case as frequently with shareware as it is with freeware, many free shareware programs today will come with adware, as without adware, the shareware wouldn’t be able to survive.
Peer-to-peer Applications (P2P) – P2P software can also come bundled with adware, although not as much as it did in the past. Kazaa is a prime example of it, as, despite the initial controversy, adware bundling made the continued funding of Kazaa possible.
The knowledge of the main areas where adware is to be found can help you to be more cautious when you download any of these free programs. The mere fact that the software may come bundled with adware should not necessarily prevent you from downloading them at all. The truth of the matter is that there are many good programs that can be downloaded for free which rival their commercial counterparts. And if the adware is intrusive, you can use an adware removal took or another security solution to control its presence.
Susan Reynolds is a content editor for a leading Spyware And Adware Removal Software brand. For more information visit: http://www.spywareremovaldoc.com
categories: Spyware Removal,Computers,Software,Internet,anti-spyware
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Sun, Oct 18, 2009
Spyware