Getting free Windows Programs

[mikeymikec]

Like OMG.

What never ceases to amaze me is how many people feel an absolute need for A/V programs because they're too stupid to avoid downloading executables from suspect sites. Or to protect themselves from email that shows up with links to random sites and attached zip files containing executables. Look at the links, look at the addresses, look at the attached files, use all three of your brain cells, delete the stupid message and move on.

"Look at the addresses" wrt downloading software from the Internet - this requires some knowledge of DNS as well as sufficient experience to know that, e.g. Adobe is unlikely to register www.adobe-systems-updates.com however adobe.com/adobereader is very likely to be a perfectly OK link to navigate to, or adobereader.adobe.com is similarly likely to be OK, and/or knowing that one should look to download iTunes from apple.com, or that Apple is unlikely to change the name of the iTunes software to "iTunes 2014".

A lot of people also assume (and it's a reasonable assumption unless you know enough to realise it isn't) that one has to be from say Microsoft in order to send an email from @microsoft.com.

Also consider the age range of people who use the Internet, before insisting that say octogenarians ought to know the intricacies of DNS.

These days I tell a lot of my customers simply not to click on any e-mailed links or attachments from any organisations whatsoever, and if they're wondering whether a particular e-mail might be genuine, let's say it's from Amazon, that instead of clicking on the link, go to the website themselves and log in to see whether Amazon needs to inform them of anything.

IMO search engines could help out a little more by either filtering the results for specific software names and ensure that if one googles for "adobe reader" that by default only the official download source appears in the unfiltered results (with an option to show the rest), or say to ban keyword advertising for specific software name search strings. Sometimes when I demonstrate the problem to a customer, googling for say iTunes or Adobe Reader gives completely clean results (at least the first few), and sometimes it doesn't.

Furthermore, I think it's unforgivable for a site that offers downloads to allow advertising that attempts to spoof download links in the style of that website. There's simply no good reason for such websites to have a terms of use for advertisers to abide by, and they get permabanned for breaking such rules. Unfortunately, such sites prefer income to providing a decent/honest service.