• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 28, 2005

Adware programs were among the items some consumers least wanted on their computers, security company McAfee reported this week.

The security company published a list of the 10 most common "malicious" and "non-malicious" threats seen in the first quarter of this year. The most common malicious threats included viruses and other programs that tend to install themselves through security holes in users' browsers, while the 10 most frequently seen non-malicious--but nonetheless potentially unwanted--programs mainly were adware.

Gator (the former name of adware company Claria Corp.) and 180solutions both made the list of potentially unwanted programs, which McAfee stated was based both on its own technology and reports by customers.

In the past, McAfee didn't separate out the "malicious" and "non-malicious" threats. When the company published its list of top 10 threats of 2004, adware companies were mixed in the same group as other programs that potentially wreak greater havoc on users' computers. Unlike some other online annoyances--such as identity theft scams, or viruses that can erase hard drives--adware is legal.

Vincent Gullotto, vice president of McAfee's AVERT (anti-virus and vulnerability emergency response team) added that "malicious" programs tend to spread from computer to computer, destroy hard drives, or otherwise cause significant damage. McAfee will continue to detect and offer to remove both the malicious and non-malicious programs, Gullotto said.

McAfee also found that Adware continued to proliferate this year. The company reported that 1.5 million of its 5 million-plus VirusScan Online users had at least one ad-serving program on their computers, with an average of three adware programs per machine.

In addition, reported the company, unsolicited ads to mobile networks are growing--and along with those ads, malware targeting mobile phones also has increased from five threats in the fourth quarter of last year to as many as 50 currently. Such programs, which can spread from phone to phone, can cause a user's address book or other stored information to be deleted.