If you want to avoid adware, you should follow two simple rules

Some people say that it is difficult to keep adware away from your PC. However, if you use some common sense, it can be quite easy to tell which kinds of programs are likely to have adware and which are not.

Programs least likely to have adware are highly technical and obscure: their user bases simply wouldn’t stand for it. Adware is most often bundled in cleverly marketed programs that fill a common, everyday need, as these programs will be downloaded far more by non-technical users who are less likely to know about adware.

By far the biggest sources of adware right now are peer-to-peer file-sharing programs like Kazaa. These programs come with adware in the installer, mainly because the companies that distribute them want to have a revenue stream and aren’t overly concerned about their reputation, as they don’t generally produce other types of software.

However, there is also a lot of software that actually does very little and is nothing more than a distribution mechanism for adware. Bonzi Buddy, Comet Cursor, and Hotbar are examples of this.

Bonzi Buddy is a funny-looking purple monkey, clearly aimed at children, who reads advertisements using text-to-speech technology. Comet Cursor allows you to easily change the appearance of the mouse pointer (something trivial for a program), and installs an advertising toolbar and shortcuts to affiliate websites on your desktop. More recently, Hotbar and other similar programs are luring young users into installing them with the promise of emoticons, and in return, they take control of the web browser, install toolbars, change the default search engine, and more.

If you want to avoid adware, you should follow two simple rules. First of all, anything that sounds too good to be true probably is. Second, don’t download any freeware you see in a banner ad or pop-up window; if they bought an advertisement, they plan to make money from you in some way, and it could be through adware.