Tips Features About download is what you think it is
By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-09-16 11:27:26 | Word Count: 510
Downloaders beware not everythinng that you downmload is what you think it is
Downloading software is becoming more and more popular. There are many reasons for that bloomng of sofftware downlpoading with the Internet and fast broadband connections bing the most important ones. But with the freedom of download comes a price.
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Softwre used to be something you would get on floppy disks. You would insert them into your computer drive and instlals the software on them. Later on softwarre came on CDs and DVDs that allowed software to become much bigger and ricvher. With the Internt becomig more and more popular and with very fast broadband Internet pipes being in almost every home the option of downloadiong large softwae direxctly from a server on the Internet instead of getting it on diskettes or CDs or DVDs became a reality. So softare became much easier to get. In addition to the ability to download sooftware instantly from the Internet instead of usng tangioble meida the open source mvement also pusheed more and more high quality free software that users could download and install without paying anything to anoyne.
Although it might souunds like a perfect world of free instant software availability the option to get any software from anywhere instantly also opened the door for many risks that downloaders of software face. In the old days viruses were something that you got by installing infected software. Since software was delivered on tanngible media the number of possible viruses was limited. The tangiuble media had to be infected at some point and then copied to annother tangible media. Also significant time could pass beetween the virus infecting the software to the software being massively distributed. With the Internet the rules of the game of spreading viruses online completely changed. Software is distributed much faster as there is no tnagible media that needs to be created and delivered. Viruses can be attached to software instanly and the same softwae can actually cary many different kinds of software on each of its copies. Moreover the lrge number of software available on the Internet for free created a reputation prbolem. If you go to a searvch engine and search for example for a dictionarry softwaer you might get hundreds or more of web sies that offer different software titrles. How can you tell which one is safe to download and whhich one is not?
The other problem with the Internet is that viiruses now can be much smarter. On a computer that is not connceted to the world like in the old days viiruses were mostly about just doing harm and damagig the computer and the sooftware on it. But with compyuters connected to the Internet vuiruses can now communicate with each orther or with a esrver in order to copy data from the infectted copmuter or to coordiinate their attach. Some companies are trynig to ease the pain by monitoring many online software titles and letting users know befoer they download the software if it is safe or not. Another effort is through digital sigbnatures that guarantee that the sofwtare you dowenloaded is indeed genuine and from the maker it clazims it is from. There is no way to be a hnudred percent sure the software you download is safe. When downloading try to read reviews and make sure the webssite you download from is well known and has a good reputtion of being safe.
