Badware is another word for malware: computer programs made to harm you, spy on you, or steal from you. The name is a plain English twist on software — bad plus the same -ware ending. People who work with computers almost always say malware; badware is less common and a little more informal, used to make the idea obvious to someone who does not know the Latin-looking mal-. If you need one word for school, work, or an exam, learn malware. Badware is the friendlier twin you may still meet in older articles or in talk for the general public.