A lot of websites contain large “Install” buttons all but begging you to click them. You shouldn’t. They will usually give you adware or spyware instead of what you wanted or, worse, they’ll redirect you to a compromised website.

Despite its name, the term “spyware” doesn’t refer to something used by undercover operatives, but rather by the advertising industry. In fact, spyware is also known as “adware.” It refers to a category of software that, when installed on your computer, may send you pop-up ads, redirect your browser to certain web sites, or monitor […]

A type of software that downloads or displays unwanted ads when a user is online or redirects search requests to certain advertising websites. The term adware is frequently used to describe a form of malware, which presents unwanted advertisements to the user of a computer. The advertisements produced by adware are sometimes in the form […]