Spyware and adware are advertisement-focused applications that, much like computer viruses, install themselves on systems with little or no user interaction. While such an application may be legal, it is usually installed without the user’s knowledge or informed consent. A user in an organization could download and install a useful “free” application from the Internet and in doing so, unwittingly install a spyware component. The term ’spyware’ is commonly used to describe both spyware and adware applications and will be used here to that extent for convenience.
Adware is a program that employs a targeted marketing technique. It usually monitors the user’s activity on the net and displays advertisements based on this information. Adware applications connect to remote servers to download new ads and check for software updates for themselves. Users’ details and online behavior are not shared or transmitted to these servers. Adware is similar to spyware in many aspects but is generally considered more “ethical”. Continue reading »
