All these numbers are highly volatile since technical and legal preconditions quickly change profit opportunities.
In 2013 and 2014, changes in web browsers to prevent unwanted toolbar installs and a new policy by Microsoft towards advertising[7] lead to the expectation that the main profit methods of the companies would soon work no longer.
Many security software vendors list these products in the category of potentially unwanted programs[14][15] (PUP, also PUS or PUA[16]) or grayware[17] and offer detection and removal.
This category is distinct from genuine malware and is used for software from companies that can, as opposed to criminal underground programmers, threaten with or practice litigation.
[18][19] An unnamed Download Valley executive admitted to the Wall Street Journal[7] that some companies employ teams of up to 15 developers to break through security suites that try to block their software.