Adware is one of those intrusive things that seems to have just “happened”. Of course, early computers weren’t often connected to the internet so the chance for annoying Adware to appear was a lot less. Unless you had the misfortune to use an infected floppy disk, you were probably OK.
Then came the turn of pop-up adverts but with the advent of pop-up blockers the adware companies have had to resort to other ways to get our attention. If most people block pop-up adverts most of the time, what’s the point in using them?
Some pop-up adverts are still unblockable – they just appear on your screen, sometimes below your current browser window, sometimes occupying the full screen. Most times you can just click the “close” button, but it’s still annoying. After all, why should anyone have the right to take you away from the current web page you’re viewing? It’s the internet equivalent of cold calling on the telephone and is enough to make you growl!
Adware gets worse when it starts to slow down your computer. The most intrusive is difficult to uninstall, such as programs that display random adverts and...