Finding the catch in 'free' software

Browsing the Web has become like walking down a carnival sideshow. Everywhere you turn, you're bombarded with come-ons. You know there's a catch to each and every pitch because these barkers are pros at separating you from your money.

The people offering free software and Web services appear to be taking lessons from retired carnies. Their offers are too good to be true—literally. Most of these folks are in business, after all, so they have to make money somehow.

And as they say, the most successful cons are the ones where the victim doesn't even know he or she has been conned at all.

Of course, the purveyors of these "free" services assert that there's nothing underhanded about their method of doing business. Many are up-front about their business model, whether it involves placing ads in their products and services, downloading unrelated browser toolbars along with their updates, charging only organizations who use the software while letting individuals have it for free, or offering only dumbed-down versions of the programs for free and requiring payment for access to all the products' features.

Still, sifting through the "free" claims to find the true price you pay for such products can be daunting. Anyone who has used the Internet for any length of time knows it pays to be skeptical. While there are hundreds—perhaps thousands—of truly free programs and services available on the Web, finding the best of them isn't always easy. And clicking the wrong free-download link can be downright dangerous.

One way to determine whether a program is really free is its use of the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License (GPL). The GNU GPL stipulates that the software can be used, copied, and distributed verbatim without limitation, though it cannot be changed. While you can usually get the source code of programs that adhere to the GNU GPL, the license differs somewhat from open-source software.

The Open Source Initiative defines 10 criteria that programs must follow to be considered "open source." Among these are that the software can be redistributed—whether sold or given away—without limitation, and that the source code be distributable as well. Such programs must also allow "modifications and derived works" that can be distributed under the same terms.

SourceForge provides the most comprehensive collection of open-source software for Windows, Linux, and other operating systems. The programs listed on the site are often poorly documented and may be labeled as "projects," so you may not want to pin your business's success on one of them.

In fact, you'll often find more complete reviews of the programs listed on SourceForge by searching for them on Download.com. For example, here's the SourceForge entry for the KeePass Password Safe password-management freeware, and the product's entry on Download.com.

Whose bandwidth is it, anyway?
My biggest beef with software vendors—whether they charge for their products or not—is their cavalier attitude toward our system resources. Microsoft ties up our PCs every second Tuesday of the month with multimegabyte Windows updates. But a more recent example is Apple's latest iTunes and QuickTime update, which comes in at a whopping 101.2MB download. Apple, Microsoft, and other software vendors repeatedly expect me to put my workday on hold and turn my system over to their monster updates.

Apple's iTunes + QuickTime updater wants to download more than 100MB of patches in the middle of my workday.

(Credit: Apple)

Many antivirus and other security programs let you use them for free but request a donation—sometimes repeatedly. For example, InformAction's popular NoScript add-on for Firefox opens a page after each update that solicits donations.

Other times, the vendor offers a free version of their commercial products, but finding it on the company's site becomes a game of Where's Waldo? If you're looking for AVG Free, you'll find it much faster on Download.com than you would on AVG Technologies' site.

Perhaps the greatest danger when looking for free software is becoming a victim of rogue security programs. This form of malware tricks you into downloading it by promising free protection, and then it claims to have found viruses that aren't actually there. The software holds your system for ransom, requiring that you pay to "remove" the infection that the program itself created.

The best way to avoid such traps is to restrict your software downloads to sites such as Download.com that scan all the files they host for malware prior to offering them for download. Better yet, think twice or even three times before installing any program. Every piece of software you load on your PC comes at a price, even if it's just the time, effort, and bandwidth required to keep it up-to-date so it doesn't become a security weak point.

[livingaudio]

awesome advice!

"Microsoft ties up our PCs every second Tuesday of the month with multimegabyte Windows updates. But a more recent example is Apple's latest iTunes and QuickTime update, which comes in at a whopping 101.2MB download. Apple, Microsoft, and other software vendors repeatedly expect me to put my workday on hold and turn my system over to their monster updates."

Completly agree, I feel as if everytime i start Itunes there is a new version which cause a mess for me since i have such a huge digital music collection. Not only does it take time but sometimes those updates cause massive issues wit related software; such as the recent itunes and AVG conflict (not to pick on Apple too much) Microsoft and its updates likewise, as you stated clog up the bandwidth. But i suppose, they could just leave us out in the cold to fend for ourselves...no updates, no downloads..gasp!
free ware has saved me a so much money. AVG, VLC, PodtoMac, Bit Torrent, Limewire, Chrome, Firefox (browsers i know)
Freeware is essential for innovation and growth of the internet in my opinion, bring it on i say!

Great post!

[george_liquor]

You know, nobody's holding a gun to your head to download those iTunes or Microsoft updates. Skip an iTunes version or two. Install the Windows updates after you're finished with the computer & you're about to shut it down--Windows gives you that option right on the shutdown screen.

[DMBoricua]

Haha, you know what, around a month ago I was using Windows 7 RC with AVG, and iTunes needed an update. I did the update, and when I started opening up iTunes, AVG was assuming iTunes as a trojan infection, and would not let me open it. AVG is really the best free antivirus software there is and I would not like to change it for any other in the world but at that time it really got me off, so I uninstalled it and got panda cloud antivirus free which offers, the most BASIC protection you could ever get on an antivirus. But thats not the case anymore, I later reloaded AVG again and no longer told me iTunes was an infection so I'm good, it was just really awkward though.

[c|net Reader]

Be fair to NoScript: you can tell it not to display the update page in Options and that update page includes much more than a link to donate.

[HyraxX]

There are other add-ons which I cannot find a way to change the start-up screen.

[legoluke]

I only have a 3 mobile broadband dongle with three GB allowance a month. So when I tunes or windows wants me to download another patch or update then this takes a long time and uses up my allowance. Take I tunes 9.0, it took 1 hour to download and another 20 minutes to install, I could not do anything on my PC until it had finished which was very annoying. Companies must remember that not all of us have top spec PCs with the latest super fast broadband.

[DaveMcLain]

I was just thinking about what people who must use a dial up connection do when it comes to these updates! 50MB is a LOT of data at 50Kbs.

[Donniebrasco]

Some of the maintenance programs I use are a little "new version" happy as well. CCleaner seems to have a new version all the time that requires me to go to their site and download a new file. Same with Zone Alarm and IOBit 360. It would be much easier if they could just patch themselves instead of requiring a new install.

[losingmysenses]

Why complain about the auto updates? Simply turn them off and check when it's convenient for you. Hell, I only update iTunes twice a year and I really regret upgrading to 9.0. Windows updates is whenever i get around to it, though I keep high priority updates as they roll out.

[Johnpeter70]

Excellent job! However, I do think you should add something about those free softwares that sell your system usage stats to corporations...

[HyraxX]

Why do you have a problem with the software sending out "user 9847262 accesses this feature of a program"?

Please, I really want to know how this is damaging your well-being? You know cable tracks what shows you watch, how long, what commercials you watch, what you dvr, controls what you can and cant dvr?

And all you privacy nuts are having a hissy fit over ANONYMOUS usage stats?

[hwarray]

by HyraxX October 21, 2009 9:09 AM PDT
Why do you have a problem with the software sending out "user 9847262 accesses this feature of a program"?

Please, I really want to know how this is damaging your well-being? You know cable tracks what shows you watch, how long, what commercials you watch, what you dvr, controls what you can and cant dvr?

And all you privacy nuts are having a hissy fit over ANONYMOUS usage stats?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

January 2006 Apple caught "Harvesting" user data in ITunes - As I recall an Apple spokesman said, "No we are not doing that...........Absolutely we are not doing that............Apple would never do that....I emphatically state Apple is not doing that......When presented with the decrypted logs he said, " Oh, Yah We're doing that".

Microsoft, Verizon, etc. all caught uploading personal, user identifiable information.

Maybe the "privacy nuts" just have better memories than many of the zombies languishing on the net!

[wizdomseeker]

Why don't you just do the downloads at the end of the day when you leave so you don't waste any time?

[czott]

Is this an article about security and free downloads or an advertisement for download.com? It's hard to tell the difference.

[BlackPenguin]

He was just using download.com as an example. he wasn't trying to say that ONLY use download.com and DON'T use anything else. He was saying only use places like download.com. In other words, use sites that are reliable. That have credibility to them.

[EdCenter]

I think it started out as an article about the Catch-22 side of free software, but it concluded with Download.com (which is the best site, IMHO, to find a single source for professional reviews of free software). I think the article may have been better served as a promotion to Download.com (which I love and have used since when C|Net used to have Search.com, remember that one?).

[smulla26]

I ditched firefox and loaded chrome I was sick of the random freezes I think some kind of virus hijacked it but now that I totally abandoned it I have a working computer.

[QA_Tester]

Also don't forget to research any programm you are installing prior to restoring anything and don't fall for "your computer is corrupted" messages that show up in the browser.

[z05m]

For crying out loud, you dont have to update your windows or mac every month. I update my Mac every 6-8 months and start the process before going to bed or knowing that I wont be using my computer for at least a half hour !!! Do it @ lunch time if your @ work. What a useless excuse concerning updates.

[pj_mouse]

If they're critical security updates, which the Windows updates almost always contain, then you had better update or risk being vulnerable. I can't speak for OS X on that matter but I can't imagine it's too different.

[deniceels]

He's mentioned also the size of it needed to download... imagine you're working from home on relatively limited download/upload cap... that's a reason, not excuse.

[Alanos Heero]

If you have automatic updates on then it likes to update without your consent. If you turn it off Microsoft gripes at you for not using the recommended settings an upon update the automatic updates are turned back on. I have to turn it off everytime I update or else I could look away for one minute and find it trying to auto update and restart.

[pj_mouse]

The free version of AVG is always found at http://free.avg.com - I've been using that URL to download it for ohers for a long time.

[cable.cnet.id]

I download a lot of stuff from hippo.com Is that a safe place to get freeware. I am also trying Wise Disk Cleaner. Anybody had any expeerience with that?

w.

[aitchondo]

Hippo has always been good for me. Wise Disk and Wise Registry Cleaners are on my laptop. Not the greatest, but not bad. I keep and use them.