So you hear or read about something that you would like to download to your computer. A popular and good example is Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes is probably the best and most trusted anti-malware program around. They make a free version and a paid version. So you do an internet search and find that you can download Malwarebytes from twenty five different websites. You will see things like “Get malwarebytes.com, “freemalwarebytes.download and so on. You can even click on Malwarebytes.com and get the wrong site. Malwarebytes.org is the only download that will be free of additional programs. There are some open source programs that are free and that is a good thing. Most free things on the internet are not really free. Even Malwarebytes downloaded from their website will try their best to get you to upgrade to the paid version. That is a choice,but most free downloads will send a few friends along for the ride.
Some of these hidden programs can be harmless while others can cause all kinds of problems for your computer. I had a client who downloaded one simple PDF reader and ended up with 35 extra programs that cause dozens of pop ups to appear constantly. If you think your anti-virus will pickup all this garbage you are mistaken. There are several industry known safe download websites. There sites check every download for problems. I like to use CNET.com. So do your internet search for your download and see if it is available on CNET.
You can be sure the download is safe but even CNET has it’s issues. When you get to the download page you will see four or five downloads. You need to make sure you are downloading the program you are after. The first download you see may not be the one you want. Even if you are looking for a free PDF program you may download another program that you really don’t want. Some of these downloads are difficult to remove. As a computer tech I get a lot of virus related service calls. Most clients will say “I can’t understand it,I never download anything from the internet”. After a virus scan I find on average 20 to 300 pieces of malware and a few actual virus or worms.
Download a good free anti-virus program and the paid version of Malwarebytes and you are good to go. Read my article on Malwarebytes.