Software with unnecessary code which slows the function of the host software, steals resources from the host computer, and violates privacy of the user.
No one well informed in their right mind would run software that only displayed privacy violating internet ads. Similarly no one sane and well informed would want software to
embed internet ad rendering code surreptitiously or directly.
Software is payware or not-payware. There is no middle ground held by
malware. The COST of using
adware is violated privacy, less processing power, and less bandwidth.
Adware is SELF EVIDENTLY NOT
freeware nor free in any sense of the word.
Malware is software that violates the user in one or more ways.
ALL adware is malware BY DEFINITION
Anyone claiming otherwise is ignorant, evil, or delusion.
real-freeware includes Open Source, a complex movement that offers code out of selflessness.