When AOL bought Advertising.com last summer, it started off a review process that led to the ad network's dropping of its practice of including adware-generated media as part of its pool of offerings, according to MediaPost.. The move came just at the moment the popular media was going through what has become a periodic rush of anti-spyware stories - many lumping adware and spyware together - and AOL's competitors were beginning to tout their own virus and spyware protection services.