Weatherbug is an ad-supported desktop weather applicaton by AWS WeatherNet that provides that provides updates on weather conditions and displays real time temperatures in the taskbar icon. Although Weatherbug is not spyware, the free version is ad-supported with both banner and pop up ads which makes it adware. This fact is stated on their
website under the section "
Why does WeatherBug have advertising?"
QUOTE
It is the advertising sponsors that keep WeatherBug free. WeatherBug found a unique way to make an ad- support ed application “relevant” to each user by allowing them to choose the type of advertising they see every day within the clearly specified limits of the WeatherBug advertising platform. In addition, an “ad-free” version of WeatherBug, called WeatherBug Plus, is available to users for only $19.95 a year. For this price, consumers get all the great features of the free application plus additional premium features in an ad-free environment.
The vendor disagrees on their product being called adware due to the lack of a standard definition. The vendor provides their own definition of what is considered adware.
QUOTE
We believe that the proper definition of adware is any program that secretly gathers personal information through the Internet and relays it back to another computer, generally for advertising purposes. This is often accomplished by tracking information related to Internet browser usage or habits.
The vendor then claims that WeatherBug does not meet the criteria for being labeled adware based on how they define it. However, there are security experts who disagree with their defintion and consider the free program adware.
Further, I would be concerned about the free version since it is ad-supported with banner and pop up ads. These ads could contain code which can trigger pop-up ads and Flash ads which have been reported to install malware. Ads are a target for malware writers because they offer a stealthy way to distribute malware to a wide range of Internet users. However, removing the program is considered more of an optional fix.
Weather Watcher is a safer alternative.