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There is genuine freeware offered on the Internet. There’s also a lot of stuff that purports to be free but isn’t. The trick is to recognise which is which.
Nearly every hardware manufacturer has a site from which you can download drivers—software that makes your hardware work properly. This is included in the purchase price of your hardware; it doesn't fit the definition of free software.
On this site I have two lists:one of protective programs that everyone needs; one of free graphics programs that I believe to be trouble-free.
Most programs that are truly free suggest that you make a donation if you use them a lot, or that you consider upgrading to the professional version, buy another product by the same author, or that you at least send some acknowledgement to the author. A few come with a banner ad that will be removed if you register.
(There is also beta software—free to you as long as you report any bugs to the developers—and open source software—written for The Good Of All Mankind. This software is truly free, but isn’t always easy for the novice to come to grips with.)
Some "free" programs, though, ask absolutely nothing. They are often for small things that sound attractive, especially for new users, like pretty screen savers and wall paper, whole desktop themes, somewhere to upload your own photographs, ultra-handy toolbars. One of the absolutely worst and hardest to remove pieces of spyware, CoolWebSearch, is distributed along with give-away toolbars as well as in other ways. There are bigger and "better" things as well.
Ask yourself, "why". Then set about finding out.
You can type the name of the program into Google and type the word "spyware" beside it. Often you’ll see the answer in the headers straight away. If you don't, try again with "malware", and again with "pest".
Also check the download site. Some have a clearly stated policy saying that they check every item for malware and offer nothing that contains it. I like this one at SnapFiles. Some don't have such a statement—or have something so vague and waffley that you're not quite sure what it means. Also, don't assume that the words "Privacy Policy" are an assurance unless you read the policy and see what it says. Some have, often near the bottom, a statement saying that by downloading their material you agree to accept advertising.
A real bugbear is the page, during the setup of a program, where you are told to "Read This Agreement Carefully". Yeah, sure, great! Those agreements are so long you'd be there reading until you died of old age. Yet, when you click the "I agree" box, you indicate that you have read it, which probably covers the person responsible if there's something nasty on line 500.
Sometimes it's possible to highlight and copy the text from one of those agreements, then paste it somewhere where you can play with Edit > Find. Some have copying disabled, though.
If searching doesn’t suggest that a program has unwanted passengers—and if you really do want to try it—download it and, having right clicked and checked for viruses, run the setup. Have StartUp Monitor running. StartUp Monitor will tell you immediately if the program tries to register to run every time you boot up. Always refuse. Then run Spybot Search and Destroy and AdAware. Allow them to kill any spyware or adware that they find and then see if the program works. If it does, that’s great. If it doesn’t, delete the program and its set-up files.
Links to all of the programs just mentioned are on the Protective Programs page.
Be aware that removing an unwanted program isn’t always straightforward or easy. Some of these nasty programs have no uninstall and Add and Remove Programs can’t handle them. Sometimes people have to get detailed instructions on how to search their computer—often including the registry—to root out the pest. Not a job for the faint-hearted!
Type the name of the troublesome program into Google, add the word "remove", and you'll find someone, somewhere, to help you.
Remember, though, a visible advertisement, usually saying, "Register to Remove This Banner" or something similar, shouldn’t be confused with spyware.
Questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you. My email address is here.
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