Software with
unnecessary code which slows the function of the host software, steals resources from the host computer, and violates privacy of the user.
No one well informed in their right mind would run software that only displayed privacy violating internet ads. Similarly no one sane and well informed would want software to embed internet ad rendering code surreptitiously or directly.
Software is payware or not-payware. There is no
middle ground held by malware. The COST of using adware is violated privacy, less processing power, and less bandwidth. Adware is SELF EVIDENTLY NOT freeware nor free in any sense of the word.
Malware is software that violates the user in one or more ways.
ALL adware is malware BY
DEFINITIONAnyone claiming otherwise is ignorant, evil, or delusion.
real-freeware includes Open Source, a complex movement that offers code out of selflessness.
ALL software on android market claiming to be freeware but rendering
internet ads IS adware and by
definition malware.
ALL installers using opencandy adware IS MALWARE -- and
especially nefarious as it runs with admin rights.
