The Security Mentor

Brace yourself for another new term. The new project to study and rate software for whether it harms the computer, steals user data, resists being uninstalled, or generally acts like spyware, adware, or other malware has invented the term "badware". Don't ask why. It seems to mean exactly the same thing as "malware", which is short for "malicious software" and which covers the whole range of viruses, worms, adware, spyware, etc.

This is a really good idea, from people in a position to fight nuisance suits from the scum who peddle spyware. I hope they share information with Ben Edelman and Eric Howes, who have both been researching spyware for a while.

So far their list of rated programs is short. They say they're examining programs carefully, which will slow things down, but there's so much garbage out there that they can add names as fast as they can do examinations.