When reading an article where some term is used often, it is useful to make sure the author of the article and you mean the same. Not surprisingly for those who still remember English lessons at school, every noun ending with "ware" is a mixture of objects having something in common--usually used for similar purposes. So it tends to be when "ware" is short for "software"; sometimes it's pretty tricky to define exactly what kind of software it includes and what these programs do.

If the terms "adware" and "spyware" are used in an article as synonyms (sometimes even experienced journalists make such a mistake), readers will just wonder why there are so many words for the same stuff. Since computer programmers and gurus don't read these articles at all, an average user feels bewildered when he finishes reading. Too many terms with too vague meanings