The Difference Between Addware & Spyware

While adware and spyware are mostly the same kind of thing (they both mess up your computer), there are a few differences between the two.

What Is Spyware?

Spyware has the basic aim of trying to collect your personal information. This allows criminals making the spyware to record what you type, so that it is possible to record things like your bank account username and password. It will often also change personal settings on your computer. Often, spyware is downloaded without you knowing about it, and will try to avoid detection as much as possible. You’ll need a decent anti-spyware software in order to properly remove it.

What Is Adware?

Adware can also try to spy on your activities, but primarily has the aim of displaying advertisements (as the name suggests). This is relatively better than spyware because it doesn’t put your information at risk, but is still definitely annoying because it will slow down your computer. Companies who make adware make money each time a pop-up advertisement is shown on an infected machine, and to display these ads, the adware will often take up your computers processing power.

In summary:

Spyware and adware do still share a few things in common. They will both try to avoid detection as much as possible in order to stay on your machine, and they are often very difficult to remove. While they are on your computer, they will also take up a lot of resources and slow your machine down.