Thursday, July 7, 2016

Best Freeware Download Sites

Introduction

Once you use Gizmo's to find the best freeware for your purposes, you need to download it from somewhere. Generally, I recommend that you use the software developer's site but that is not always possible. In that case, you have to go to one of the many repositories of freeware to be found on the web.
Here I list six of the largest and best. The ranking is subjective so keep in mind that your personal experience may be different. There are a lot of download sites and you may know of one worth a mention. Let us hear your ideas in the comments.
Special warning: The practice of bundling adware or other unwanted additonal applications with freeware has become widespread. Please exercise vigilance about what you click on and read all screens carefully during the download and installation process of any freeware. More about this problem is here.

Rated Products


MajorGeeks  

A prime site for tech tools and utilities


Our Rating: 

5
License: Free
Top place for tech tools. Site tries to feature only highly rated freeware.
Number of available downloads somewhat more limited than for other major download sites.
Read full review...

Softpedia  

A huge commercial site with an excellent collection organized by platform


Our Rating: 

4.5
License: Free
Very wide selection. Claims products are free of malware or adware.
Site has ad download links that are easy to confuse with the actual freeware link.
Read full review...

FileHippo  

Offers a wide collection of clean software with fast download rates


Our Rating: 

4
License: Free
Full version history of many products. Wide selection of downloads. Clean site without misleading ads.
Sometimes does not have latest version of a program. Seems to be instituting proprietary downloader for some files.
Read full review...

SnapFiles  

Offers a huge collection of mostly Windows software titles


Our Rating: 

4
License: Free
Ads not as obtrusive as some sites. Clean navigation. Every program said to be tested.
Primarily Windows.
Read full review...

FreewareFiles  

Good collection of software with user ratings


Our Rating: 

3.5
License: Free
User ratings of downloads.
Ads with download links that could be mistaken for the desired product link. Somewhat cluttered. Doesn't always have latest updates of software.
Read full review...

FileForum  

The site to look for the very latest products


Our Rating: 

3.5
License: Free
The latest and most up to date versions.
More limited software collection than some.
Read full review...

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