What exactly is Adware

To continue our journey into the land of annoying pop-ups and information stealing software, let’s talk about Adware.

Adware is in the same group as spyware (privacy-invasive software) in that Adware may be used to allow Spyware into your PC. If the program you are using has Adware built-in, it may display or download advertisements to your PC at any time. (Ever had pop-ups out of nowhere? Even while not on the internet? That’s one example of Adware) Most software developers may use this as a means to offer free software or software at a reduced cost (since they are being paid by whomever they are advertising for). Though as I stated above these adware programs basically leave the door open for spyware programs.

To keep your PC ad free, I recommend running a program called Ad-Aware on your PC(s) at least once per month. This will scout out those nasty Adware registry files and program files. It also deletes them for you, how great is that!

Check out part 1 of What exactly are Spyware, Adware, Malware, and Viruses to find out more information on Spyware.