Checking suggested software

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How do I check on software?

This is a general question, not about a specific software. On this forum or other Woody’s forums, freeware or shareware is often recommended. How can I be (reasonably) sure the software isn’t malware? While I trust the regular contributors here, I really want some authoritative assurance that XYZ software is ok. What I normally do is to look at the homepage of XYZ and see how long its been around and if it has a forum for user feedback. And I check to see if XYZ is available on reputable sites like Snapfiles http://webattack.com/ or C-Net download.com. And I google XYZ to see if any authorittative sounding sites have reviewed it. So is this too much? too little? on the wrong track? What’s a prudent plan? Edited…Yeah I’m running a firewall and antivirus software, but I still am careful. J. Till

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This is a serious problem. As you may know from reading the recent thread entitled Caveat emptor, download site ratings may be completely meaninglessness. And what does “spyware free” mean on a vendor’s site? Probably something different to everyone.

Besides running it up the flagpole here in the Lounge, you could try searching for reviews or comments or bad news on reputable software and anti-spyware sites. Also you could try running it in a virtual machine (e.g., BufferZone) to see what it does. If the software does anything suspicious, you can submit it to some of the antivirus companies for analysis.

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I don’t have anything to add to what Jefferson and Alan have said except that it looks like you’ve got a pretty good plan going there already and I think that many of us do things very similar to what you’ve pointed out. It IS a risky world out there, so keep the faith.

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With regard to freeware, the usenet newsgroup Discussions – alt.comp.freeware | Google Groups is a good place to search for a software title. Despite the usual dose of usenet lunatics, public groups like this do tend to represent the “peer review” process better than anything else on the interthingo. If there’s been the slightest whiff of malware you’d hear about it there.

Alan

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