Submission + - Paying for AdWare?
Jack Pallance writes: It seems to me that adware is evil. Like Hitler, Osama, or the person that wrote that old E.T. video game.
I regularly use antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewall software to clean computers and then keep them that way. Naturally, I don't install programs bundled with adware myself, and warn others to stay away from offers of "free" screensavers, games, and the like (usually offered through pop-ups on the Internets).
But recently I have noticed more pay programs subtley introducing adware. For instance, popular accounting packages place icons on the desktop to order checks, get loans, and buy software from partners. Printer drivers are little more than platforms for manufacturers to *remind* customers that it is always time to buy more ink and paper. My firewall and antivirus programs keep poping up in the corner to tell me that my subsciption is about to expire, or that a new product is available. I thought I got a firewall and antivirus to get rid of these popups!
But the antivirus, anti-adware, and firewall programs I'm familliar with don't detect anything, because the adware is part of the programs for which people are paying.
So the question is, what is to be done? Are we just waiting for the slow creep of adware to take over our desktops again? This time through paid-for software?
I regularly use antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewall software to clean computers and then keep them that way. Naturally, I don't install programs bundled with adware myself, and warn others to stay away from offers of "free" screensavers, games, and the like (usually offered through pop-ups on the Internets).
But recently I have noticed more pay programs subtley introducing adware. For instance, popular accounting packages place icons on the desktop to order checks, get loans, and buy software from partners. Printer drivers are little more than platforms for manufacturers to *remind* customers that it is always time to buy more ink and paper. My firewall and antivirus programs keep poping up in the corner to tell me that my subsciption is about to expire, or that a new product is available. I thought I got a firewall and antivirus to get rid of these popups!
But the antivirus, anti-adware, and firewall programs I'm familliar with don't detect anything, because the adware is part of the programs for which people are paying.
So the question is, what is to be done? Are we just waiting for the slow creep of adware to take over our desktops again? This time through paid-for software?
