Sorry I'm late answering this. Emoticons are the smiley faces that are mainly meant to show emotions. Emojis (like the ones found on the iPhone) can be small images of many different things. For example on the iPhone, there are animals, food, buildings, symbols, modes of transportation, symbols for different holidays etc etc. The possibilities are endless.
I used smiley central in the past when I first got my computer and didn't know anything about spyware/malware. It was fun to use, but knowing what I know now, it's not worth it.
If there is a paid version of something similar, they might have the integrity to not have spyware accompany the install, but you can't count on it.
I'm frustrated with many upgrade installs for things like Java script. You have to be very careful to uncheck the accompanying install for mcafee virus detector. Something like that should not be checked by default to install. It is an option and people should have to check that if they want it. I feel it's shady to already have it checked. I've had to cancel several upgrade installs because I was in a hurry and missed the box that was already checked. Then I have to go back and begin the upgrade install again and make sure I uncheck it. They know what they're doing having it already checked. They know it's a shady practice but they continue to do it.
