StopBadware.org has recently tagged four applications as badware.

What is badware? The said organization defines it as follows:

Badware is malicious software that tracks your moves online and feeds that information back to shady marketing groups so that they can ambush you with targeted ads.
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What’s particularly tricky about badware is that you may not know that you downloaded it. Some badware manufacturers bundle it with other programs without disclosing that it’s part of the package. Others put their programs on your PC when you visit certain websites or play online games.

In its first report, StopBadware.org tags four apps as badware: Kazaa, Mediapipe, SpyAxe, and Waterfalls 3. You may want to download the PDF file here.

Take note that some antivirus companies tag them as adware or spyware. Trend Micro has two detections: ADW_SPYAXE.B and ADW_SPYAXE.E. Symantec detects it as Spyaxe.

I had tried Kazaa, and clean up after uninstalling it was no walk in the park. Install it at your own peril.