We, as dedicated computer and software users, have traversed a long way from those bad days, when our computers used to get attacked by vicious sounding viruses, Trojans, spyware and malwares. We are still are under constant threat from attack by invisible viruses or spyware. As the word “spyware” became a household name, and when it started creating havoc on thousands of computer systems the world over, security experts and anti-virus software professionals started taking notice of the menace posed by these spyware modules.

Strangely, all these spywares were designed and propagated by the so called software majors! However, with the passage of time, the word “spyware” became a dirty word among computer users, which needed to be avoided at any cost! As a result, everyone started to think that spyware is a piece of software that closely monitors your activities on computers and reports them back to its maker. In fact, all software users were neatly outflanked by these smart operators, who surreptitiously planted their evil creations in the computer systems. It was a peculiar situation, when people simply abhorred the word “spyware”, and they got irritated when it was suggested to them that their computer systems were being spied upon by these spyware modules. As a result, it was so convenient to label these software items, as something that is very dirty. And, it was a good way to make sure that everyone listened to this fact!

But, the situation is entirely different today; if you notice, there are a lot of public relation exercises that keep coming at you, non-stop for twenty-four hours a day. Many software majors claim that they are not making spyware anymore, but they make highly innovative “adware”! Paradoxically, these firms also claim that adware is actually very good for your computer system! As all computer users were just sighing relief, thinking that they had decisively won the moral war against “spyware”, they were in for a real surprise! Many software majors wanted to push computer users all over the world, with a clever strategy that was devised with a novel idea in mind (maybe ulterior?).

Though, these software majors stopped creating spyware altogether, they found another smart way to outflank computer users! It was very ingenious as well! And it had to be! It is so true that someone could plant legal software right into your computer, with your own consent, to monitor your online activities and browsing habits! And the amazing thing with these software modules was that there was absolutely no need to send those vital bits of information back to the software company! The program that was installed on your computer system did everything by itself!

These smart software items were designed to perform the same thing that was performed by spyware. However, there was no need for any spying with these software modules. The creators of these software programs were intelligent enough to call them “adware” and their monster creation was promoted by floating a huge publicity campaign. All of this was done to separate out adware from spyware!

We, as dedicated computer and software users, have traversed a long way from those bad days, when our computers used to get attacked by vicious sounding viruses, Trojans, spyware and malwares. We are still are under constant threat from attack by invisible viruses or spyware. As the word “spyware” became a household name, and when it started creating havoc on thousands of computer systems the world over, security experts and anti-virus software professionals started taking notice of the menace posed by these spyware modules.

Strangely, all these spywares were designed and propagated by the so called software majors! However, with the passage of time, the word “spyware” became a dirty word among computer users, which needed to be avoided at any cost! As a result, everyone started to think that spyware is a piece of software that closely monitors your activities on computers and reports them back to its maker. In fact, all software users were neatly outflanked by these smart operators, who surreptitiously planted their evil creations in the computer systems. It was a peculiar situation, when people simply abhorred the word “spyware”, and they got irritated when it was suggested to them that their computer systems were being spied upon by these spyware modules. As a result, it was so convenient to label these software items, as something that is very dirty. And, it was a good way to make sure that everyone listened to this fact!

But, the situation is entirely different today; if you notice, there are a lot of public relation exercises that keep coming at you, non-stop for twenty-four hours a day. Many software majors claim that they are not making spyware anymore, but they make highly innovative “adware”! Paradoxically, these firms also claim that adware is actually very good for your computer system! As all computer users were just sighing relief, thinking that they had decisively won the moral war against “spyware”, they were in for a real surprise! Many software majors wanted to push computer users all over the world, with a clever strategy that was devised with a novel idea in mind (maybe ulterior?).

Though, these software majors stopped creating spyware altogether, they found another smart way to outflank computer users! It was very ingenious as well! And it had to be! It is so true that someone could plant legal software right into your computer, with your own consent, to monitor your online activities and browsing habits! And the amazing thing with these software modules was that there was absolutely no need to send those vital bits of information back to the software company! The program that was installed on your computer system did everything by itself!

These smart software items were designed to perform the same thing that was performed by spyware. However, there was no need for any spying with these software modules. The creators of these software programs were intelligent enough to call them “adware” and their monster creation was promoted by floating a huge publicity campaign. All of this was done to separate out adware from spyware!