Very few people want to pay money for small pieces of software. However useful it might be, if it's not Windows, Office, Photoshop or something on a similar scale, hardly anyone is willing to chuck in a little change for the author to buy themselves some food and keep a roof over their head. About a decade ago, a group of entrepreneurs thought they had come up with the answer - but it turns out that they had designed one of the scourges of the Internet age. They had invented adware.

Adware is sponsored' software, where in exchange for use of the software, ads are displayed on your screen. These ads usually take the form of flashing banner ads, appearing in a corner of the software while it is being used - although some software will keep displaying ads even when it's not being used. Most infamously, the Gator adware shows ads while you are browsing the web based on the sites you view - so you're viewing Ford's website, and up pops an ad for a Toyota.

Understandably, adware is controversial. Many people who don't mind seeing advertising on a website object when that advertising is on their own computer as part of a program. Adware authors are often less than forthcoming about the fact that their software contains ads, with most users only discovering it when they first open up their new program. It is generally felt that the practice has made people less willing to download free software from small companies, harming the software industry as a whole.

In most cases, however, if you want the ads gone, you have two easy options. The first is to simply uninstall the software and find an alternative, while the second is to pay the registration fee for an ad-free version.