At that place's a lot of free Windows software download sites, but are they safety? Every time you download something, there's a possibility that y'all're downloading malware or viruses. Certain, you've got the best antivirus app, just there'south no sense making information technology do work that it doesn't have to do.

In this article, we'll talk about how y'all tin check whether a download is prophylactic and we'll also mention a couple of our favorite sites to download complimentary software for Windows.

Are Free Software Download Sites Safe?

At that place are simply two ways to know if a download site is safe. You can check its reputation and you lot exam its downloads yourself.

There are businesses that rank how rubber sites are. One of the most popular sites for this is WOT or Spider web of Trust. WOT rates sites based on community ratings, reviews, and their own machine learning algorithms. There are WOT plugins for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browsers. If you have the plugin installed, you can check the download site.

You lot can as well check the site before yous go to it. Go to Virus Total and enter the web address of the site. It'll check with a agglomeration of other sites that track reputations and viruses and lets you know if the site is prophylactic.

That does not hateful that what you download from the site has no malware or viruses. There are a couple of ways to test the download.

  1. Utilise a sandboxed web browser similar Sandboxie to download information technology. In the sandboxed web browser, become to Virus Full and submit the download for testing.
  2. Download the program inside a virtual machine and test information technology there.

Safe And Free Software Download Sites for Windows

To compile this list, we researched the sites on WOT, VirusTotal, Norton Safe Spider web, URLVoid, and ScanURL. At the time of writing this, none of the download sites showed whatsoever issues on the website checkers.

FileHippo

On the web since 2004 and Alexa-ranked at 625, FileHippo is solid. FileHippo states that they hand-pick the software, and test it for malware and viruses. They besides don't allow software that bundles other software into it or browser toolbars. FileHippo currently has over 40,000 plan versions listed.

Be conscientious if you do a web search for FileHippo. There are a lot of sites out there with similar names and URLs.

Nirsoft

Nirsoft is a freeware utility site that was created and currently run by a guy named Nir Sofer. He's single-handedly written all of the software utilities that you see on the site.

Each utility is completely complimentary and ordinarily very tiny in size. That's considering each utility is designed to perform one chore and 1 task only. For example, some of the most popular utilities on the site are the password viewers, which will show you passwords stored on your estimator, in your browser, etc.

Ninite

More than but a costless software download site, Ninite is also a package management system. Using it as a package management organization, Ninite tin exist used to automate the installation of your favorite software and keep it upwards to appointment, with just one click. This is probable the safest site on the list.

The number of gratis apps is limited. Information technology does cover most of the software that you lot'd install get-go on a new computer though. Chrome, Firefox, vii-cypher, iTunes, VLC, Malwarebytes are amidst the free downloads Ninite can provide and manage.

Softpedia

Fifty-fifty older than FileHippo, Softpedia has been a software download staple since 2001. Softpedia hosts a lot of gratis downloads on their ain physical servers. That means they have fifty-fifty more to gain from making certain the apps are rubber. That's a lot of piece of work when they have over 1.2 million apps, drivers, and games available.

Download Crew

Offering some of the most well-known Windows freeware in an easy to read, like shooting fish in a barrel to search site, Download Coiffure should be on your list. Download Crew has been effectually for over x years, boasts near 300,000 members, and over 33 million downloads.

Its sister site is Download Crew Shop, where yous can get deeply discounted proprietary software. Between the 2 yous'll go all you need every bit cheaply equally possible.

File Horse

When it comes to free software download sites, it's hard to tell them autonomously. They all do the same thing. They all offer downloads. What might fix File Horse apart is that they also keep archives of previous versions of the software.

So if an update to your favorite app makes an unwanted modify, you could download the older version hither and curl it back. File Horse as well curates a directory of gratuitous cloud apps.

Major Geeks

Don't let the early-2000's design fool you lot. Major Geeks is a legitimate free software download site. Founded in 2001, Major Geeks built a reputation by being one of the offset to test all the software they offer.

First, they check the reputation of the company and software, and then they scan it with several virus scanners, including VirusTotal. If it makes information technology past that, Major Geeks really installs the software on their ain VMWare Workstation to exam the functionality. If it meets their standards, and then the software gets listed. This thoroughness warrants their military-way theme.

Microsoft Shop

Partly a website and partly an app that'southward probably already on your estimator, Microsoft Store does have a lot of proficient freeware. Being Microsoft, there'due south already a reputation in place and you'd like to think they're hosting safe software.

Some of them are from the big names you already know, similar Netflix, Apple tree, and, of course, Microsoft. Some are made past smaller development teams merely tin exist very useful. Non all apps are free. There are thousands that are and it'southward easy to detect them. Just search on 'free'.

Beyond that, you should besides cheque out the groovy Sysinternals tools that used to be a carve up site, just Microsoft purchased. The tools are still updated, just are geared more towards geeks.

Anymore Good Costless Software Sites?

There are a few more good safe free software sites, merely if you can't find what you lot need on the sites above, then they're non going to aid much. Over time, y'all'll go to know the sites you like that have the software you need.

Recall to ever bank check the downloaded file with your antivirus app or through Virus Total. If possible, examination the program installation in a virtual machine or sandboxed environment.