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Adware
Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue by automatically displaying online advertisements in the user interface or on a screen presented during the installation process.
The software may generate two types of revenue: one is for the display of the advertisement and another on a "pay-per-click" basis, if the user clicks on the advertisement. Some advertisements also act as spyware,[1] collecting and reporting data about the user, to be sold or used for targeted advertising or user profiling. The software may implement advertisements in a variety of ways, including a static box display, a banner display, a full screen, a video, a pop-up ad or in some other form. All forms of advertising carry health, ethical, privacy and security risks for users.
The 2003 Microsoft Encyclopedia of Security and some other sources use the term "adware" differently: "any software that installs itself on your system without your knowledge and displays advertisements when the user browses the Internet",[2] i.e., a form of malware. Some developers offer software free of charge and rely on advertising revenue to recoup their expenses and generate income. Some offer a version without advertising, for a fee.
- ^ FTC Report (2005). "[1]"
- ^ Tulloch, Mitch (2003). Koch, Jeff; Haynes, Sandra (eds.). Microsoft Encyclopedia of Security. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-7356-1877-0.
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