The industry that houses the crapload of software that act as surveillance cameras for your PC has succeeded in redefining the definition of 'free.' When most think of the word 'free', they think of stuff you'd get without paying back the supplier - well, at least until now. Nowadays free is always attached to conditions. You buy X, then Y is free. You accept this offer, Y is free. And so on.
So seeing the word 'free' in an advertisement is convincing enough for a user to try it. After all, they've got nothing to lose. Or do they. Companies know that they will get into crap by doing things they haven't stated beforehand (like collecting information about you) so they use complex English to describe it in their 250+ page license agreement, which on average 90% of users don't bother reading. If everyone read and UNDERSTOOD the agreements I'm sure adware wouldn't be a problem. This is where the companies get the advantage- make the user stupid enough for us to trick them and therefore give us the authoritive control. And then users get hit with programs that pop up coupons while browing sites, having the homepage changed (I'd stick with MSN, thanks), the search engine hijacked (then what's Google used for?) and Internet bandwidths clogged. Complain to the companies and either they say crap about "well, IP addresses are anonymous" (yeah sure, then why am I able to connect to machines with fixed IPs?), about how spyware removers cause damage to your computer (Cydoor's exact words) or give you "I told you so"s. Improving service to serve Internet users better? I guess your 'users' are your own employees.
I can tell you offhand, no I don't want online coupons. I've got flyers in my mail, I'll use those. No, I don't want a tool that makes sure my clock is accurate; it's built into Windows XP. No, I don't want a virtual wallet; I don't shop online often. No, I don't need your custom 'spyware remover tool', I think Adaware's reputation is good enough. NO I don't want a search companion tool; Google is already simple enough to use. NO I don't want a freaking monkey doing nothing but annoy me with verbal ads that STILL occur even if I have solutions for them. NO I don't want to see people having sex.
And for the last damn time, NO I AM NOT THE 50th MILLION USER TO VISIT X's SITE! I think 50 million users get that ad.
At least if I get admail in my mailbox I can throw it into the recycle bin (I'd rather not waste paper) rather than acquire a tool that assists me in doing so. Going this far as using tools to remove this crap is not only a pain in the ass but as a solution where you can only perform if you're educated beforehand. There's still a large portion of Internet users that have no idea what spyware is.
Next time some program comes and hooks itself to the system (the case with several CWS variants) I'll label them as viruses. Spyware isn't just getting the amount of seriousness compared to viruses.
I'll still stick with the admail. After all, there's the recycle bin.
