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Google: Unwanted Software Is Worse Than Malware (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via The Stack: A year-long study between Google and New York University has determined that unwanted software unwittingly downloaded as part of a bundle is a larger problem for users than malware. Google Safe Browsing currently generates three times as many Unwanted Software (UwS) warnings than malware warnings -- over 60 million per week. Types of unwanted software fall into five categories: ad injectors, browser settings hijackers, system utilities, anti-virus, and major brands. While estimates of UwS installs are still emerging, studies suggest that ad injection affects 5% of browsers, and that deceptive extensions in the Chrome Web store affect over 50 million users. 59% of the bundles studied were flagged by at least one anti-virus engine as potentially unwanted.
"Types of unwanted software fall into five categories: ad injectors, browser settings hijackers, system utilities, anti-virus, and major brands."
How are the first two items not classified as malware?
They're not classified as malware because maintaining clear and firm definitions is a good thing. Malware is software that actively tries to harm the user (steal from them, hold their data for ransom, etc., take over their machine for arbitrary future badness, etc.). Showing ads or directing the user to a different -- but still effective -- search engine, etc., are bad, but they're a lesser form of badness, and it makes sense to me to give them a different name.
But, maybe I'm just pedantic. Well, no maybe about it. I also dislike it when people mix up trojans, viruses and worms. They're different things and have distinct names for a reason, damnit!
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You're overlooking perhaps the biggest unwanted software....Windows 10 itself.