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Beware of download sites

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crabby3:
@bit

 .. no gizmo's ?   :(  http://www.techsupportalert.com/  Gizmo's introduced me to DC.

def:
It doesn't matter what download site you use. The people that make the freeware are the ones bundling things.
Yes, some download sites make it worse by bundling on top of the bundling. (Lowell Heddings, January 11, 2015)
-def (January 13, 2015, 11:45 AM)
--- End quote ---

That still doesn't clear it up.  Especially with the highlighted part.  That's saying the exact opposite, i.e. that the developers are the ones doing the bundling.
-wraith808 (January 13, 2015, 12:30 PM)
--- End quote ---

Precisely. Had Lowell Heddings not pointed that out in the comments, I wouldn't have realized it, since in the article itself it's not obvious if the crapware comes from the freeware programmers or from the download sites' installers.

Lowell Heddings claims (again, in the comments):

Forums are full of recommendations for software that is doing bundling.

That is exactly why we are trying to bring the problem to the attention of geeks so they will stop recommending freeware to people without doing serious research and linking to a completely safe source.... although that source might not even stay safe.

I mean SourceForge is bundling now. You can't even trust them.

Don't worry though, we will continue to illustrate the problem, which is much deeper than you want to admit.
--- End quote ---

Deozaan:
I tried to make my own 'good - bad' download sites list, but I'm not so sure anymore, but here's what I compiled:
Crapware sites:
Softonic
Brothersoft
CNET installs crapware/malware/trojans;
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/CNET-CBS-Malware-Trojan-Nmap,news-13410.html
MajorGeeks is suspect.
Download.com

(possibly/maybe) Clean download sites:
http://LO4D.com
http://freewarebb.com
http://ninite.com
http://Softpedia.com
http://TechSpot.com
http://Filehippo.com
http://SnapFiles.com
http://fileforum.betanews.com
http://downloadcrew.com

I will cheerfully edit and amend my ^list according to approved comments.-bit (January 13, 2015, 10:14 PM)
--- End quote ---

Apparently you can move FreewareBB to the other list.

mouser:
I think a small piece of advice would do everyone good:
Use any site you want to discover and find out about software, but always find the original author's site to download it from.

rgdot:
Not to say mouser is wrong at all but as of this date never had any issues with softpedia. Most of their downloads are available as 'from softpedia server or author site' too.

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