Mary wants to know how freeware developers can afford to give away software
It is great to have people like the two of you who honestly dedicate your time and expertise to help us understand how to use our computers safely and efficiently. (Please excuse the run on sentence.) You have recommended so many wonderful programs and I use quite a number of them. I have a question about the free programs. Those who develop and maintain them obviously put considerable time into the task. How can they afford to share them free? ex. Avast--there are no advertisements.

Our answer
Great question, Mary, but it's not an easy one to answer; there are many reasons why companies and individuals offer free software.

In the case of Avast, they give a away a great antivirus program with the hope that some users will upgrade to the paid version (Avast Professional). Plus Avast makes a corporate version which they sell to businesses. So while Avast has no advertising, they make money by selling upgraded versions of their flagship antivirus. Many freeware programs work the same way - Revo Uninstaller comes to mind. Revo offers a freeware version and a professional version - which has more features. When Revo started offering a paid version, they didn't cut the features in the free version - which is a good thing.

Other freeware programs are developed by amateur programmers who enjoy creating software and sharing it with others -sometimes knowing others are getting enjoyment from something you've created can be a source of pride and accomplishment. Still other amateur programmers offer freeware to bulk-up their resumes. Having a highly popular freeware program in your resume can be a feather in the programmer's cap.  Still, it costs money to have host and maintain a Web site, so many amateur programmers use advertising on their Web sites to help defray the costs involved with having a Web site.

Sometimes freeware programs are offered to attract visitors to a site which has other content - a lure if you will. There is nothing wrong with offering a useful freeware program as a way to attract more visitors to a site which has other content. More often than not, these types of freeware offerings are supported by advertising displayed on the Web site.

Freeware which contains advertising within the program is not freeware - it's adware. In many cases (but not always) ad-supported freeware (adware) is as bad as spyware.