Adware is spyware with permission to snoop.
Spyware is adware without the license agreement.
OK, so defining two words as a variation of each other is circular reasoning, but it’s still vastly less convoluted than the definitions that the companies creating this stuff would have the government enact. Those definitions are a mess.
It would be better to [...]
stärt’-up-wãre, noun, any software that configures portions of itself to automatically start with the operating system of a computer, or to start with other previously-installed software.
Had a request to look at this site. Tried it, with my usual test box of totally clean, totally unpatched Win XP Home, no service packs, no antivirus, no nothing of any kind, just running a hardware firewall in the router.
The about.htm page asked me to install the Chinese Language Pack. Answered OK, [...]
All these definitions for what is loosely being called “spyware” are a problem.
Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission decided that a working definition was good enough, without a formal definition based on new legislation. They can deal with the problem based on existing regulations.
Various industry groups have attempted definitions. Some of these groups [...]