This is the way it works: You download a program and get the choice of paying for it, or using free of charge in 'ad-supported' mode. They tell you that this means you will have advertising banners displayed in the program's window and the software author gets income from commission paid by the advertising companies. That is not the only disadvantage and it isn't the whole truth! Without asking your permission and without informing you, the program installs another application supplied by a marketing company. This parasitic program operates in the background whenever you go online and records your surfing habits, passing the information directly to the marketing company who use the info to create marketing data to sell on. This type of software has become known as spyware.
The second hidden risk from spyware is that software which installs it may no longer work if the spyware is removed. Software authors who use this way of making income are specifically asked to make their setup system leave the spyware in place if their program is uninstalled, 'in case other programs need it to continue working'. Therefore if you uninstall the software that put the spyware on your computer, the spyware remains in situ and continues to do its dirty work.
I believe the use of spyware should be treated as theft. They are stealing your computer resources by installing software without your permission or knowledge, and stealing the internet bandwidth you have had to pay for. They are also invading your privacy. You wouldn't allow someone to sit in your lounge, observe your lifestyle and which adverts you see on TV, and record the information to sell for profit, would you?
There are a number of companies operating this system but there is help at hand. I use a program called Ad-Aware provided free of charge by Lavasoft. This searches your registry and file system, warns you if it finds any references to known spyware, and gives you the option of removing all traces from your system. You must be aware that some programs - those which installed the spyware in the first place - may no longer work. Personally I would rather lose a program than have someone spying on me every time I go online, and there is always an alternative that will not abuse your system.
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