Adware or advertising-supported software is responsible for playing and downloading advertisements onto your computer once it gets installed, or whenever the application is in use. To some extent, adware goes beyond just showing commercials to users. But these applications sometimes note the web surfing behavior of a user, and present commercials relevant to the type of goods and services featured in the sites s/he visits.

Spyware, in turn, as the name implies, is a type of computer software that spies. Yes, it spies. It is software that clandestinely makes its way through a user's personal computer and secretly monitors a user's behavior. However, the power of this particular application extends beyond monitoring. It does have the capacity to intrude into the user's control of his computer. The program can either redirect your web browser, collect personal information, and worse, access websites that can cause more harmful viruses to one's PC.

Both spyware and adware are classified as privacy-invasive software. This is why, in response to these software applications that abound the Internet, several other applications have been developed to battle out the intrusion that these make. However, the difference lies in the amount of decision-making capacity it gives to the user. Adware does not get installed without the user's approval, which is a good thing on the part of the user. Spyware, on the other, lurches just around the corner, ready to launch itself when the user makes a wrong click or a wrong turn and lands him/herself on the wrong site. Although these applications are of commercial use, they are seen by other users as distractions and interruptions to whatever task they have at hand.

Pop-ups and banner ads are just some of the workings of these types of software. But as technology gets more sophisticated, they do not only want to know if you are online shopping or not. Now, they can do a wider range of intrusive attempts, from simply changing a user's homepage to criminally accessing peoples' passwords for websites and credit card numbers.

Other effects of installing these privacy-invasive computer programs include free access to services provided by sites online, the creation unwanted CPU activity, and the redirection of network traffic that could possibly bug your computer down. The less harmful ones include adding new ads on web pages.

With these applications at bay, users should keep their computers protected if they do not want shady transactions printed out in their month's credit card bill.

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