‘Freeware’, as the name suggests is all about programs that you download to your PC but do not not have to pay for. But this doesn’t mean it’s free. Much freeware is written and made available simply because the geeks can do it and enjoy programming. Some freeware however may contain spyware because it is sponsored by advertisers.

Often commercial sponsorship means that you have to tolerate some flashing advert banners in the application’s window but, in other more worrying cases, it can mean that you get sinister self serving programs that may damage your hard disk, namely spyware.

All good freeware comes with a licensing agreement plus terms and conditions, although scanning small print is about as fun as poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick, it will inform you to whether any spyware is the price you need to pay.

There is no law that forces software pushers to give this information though. So beware, if your new free software has ad banners, there’s a strong likelihood that it’s watching your every keystroke and mouse click.

There is the notorious spyware case involving RealNetworks and its RealJukebox media player. Once people installed the player, RealNetworks was able to follow what users were listening to. Ostensibly the aim was similar to store loyalty cards allowing them to market specific music to listeners expressed tastes.

Kids of course are a big marketing target and in 2007 the toy company Mattel was harangued by concerned parents about spyware it was using. A program called ‘Brodcast’ was discovered in some interactive educational games. It was collecting personal information from the kids and being collected and analyzed by Mattel. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, came into force and stopped websites or online services from doing just this kind of personal information data gathering from children under 13.

The spyware companies such as Radiate and Cydoor are behind the distribution of freeware and see it as a business development tool. The geeks also see it as a way to turn a buck or two. Adware kits are given to programmers who then build in the banners and adverts. The sponsor/owner pays the adware company for placing the advert and the adware company then pays commission the writer.

Money is raised in cost per thousand screenings. So every time your software puts up an advert for your delight, you ‘make an impression’ and a thousand of these yields a small royalty for the developer. So if you really want a free lunch you better install a good anti-spyware piece of software of your own such as XoftSpySE which can be downloaded at http://www.spywareblockers.org.