The Dangers Of Freebies.

[JMH]

The internet is rife with free tools from anything to everything (almost) - from free HTML web editors to free applications to free games and so on.

We’ve been in this situation before. Sometimes out of curiosity or “affluenza” (also known as “I-GOTTA-HAVE-IT-NOW-NO-MATTER-WHAT”), we are tempted to install some of these free tools and applications from the web.

The unfortunate problem with freebies is that unless you know the source of where you download the tools from and whether the software author who created the application is credible, you are literally at the whims and mercy of the author should you choose to download and install the application.

To make matters worse, some download websites don’t even bother to check and verify every piece of software application that was uploaded to their website. Some do not even bother to perform any kind of anti-virus scanning of the uploaded software.

Source -
The Dangers Of Freebies | SophosLabs blog

 

[osholt]

Thats why I download all my Windows installer packages and EXEs on my Mac, run them through my Mac's antivirus (which finds Mac and Windows Viruses) and if a virus is detected, it is neutralised before it can be called a threat.

Oli

 

[MWRed]

That's the main reason also that I don't get anything until I read about it from multiple sources, or find it at places like this forum( like in the "Free Software" post here).

I know it's not foolproof, but it sure helps.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

That's the main reason also that I don't get anything until I read about it from multiple sources, or find it at places like this forum( like in the "Free Software" post here).

I know it's not foolproof, but it sure helps.

I agree with you MWRed. If the freebie is not on Vista forum's list or several other forum's list I don't touch it. There is no such thing as a "Free Lunch" so be careful out there!