You slowly browse the online shop and tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise stares down from the shelves, all free for the taking. Click your mouse a few times and you can transport it home, play with it, use it at your office or store.
Find it useful? Send a modest sum to the creator.
The concept of shareware, trying software before you buy, sprang up at the dawn of the personal computer age, in 1982. Twenty-five bucks registered you as an owner of PC-FILE, created by the father of the marketing idea, Jim Knopf. In the past few years, thanks to the massive delivery channel known as the Internet, it has exploded into a $300-million-a-year market, by some estimates.
“For years, shareware was distributed mainly by big catalog houses,” said Paul Mayer, shareware forum manager at the Microsoft Network. You dialed an 800 number, chose your programs from the catalog and in a few days a package arrived filled with floppy disks. “Those companies are all gone now, and everything is going to the Internet,” Mayer added. “It’s made a big change.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is that the software is often uneven: Some shareware programs rival the best commercial software, at a bargain-basement price, while a substantial number aren’t worth your time or money. Worse, you can no longer be sure that someone has scanned it for a hidden virus that could erase your hard drive.
That’s why some of the best sources of shareware on the Net also offer virus screening and ratings systems. Still others help you navigate the dizzying number of choices, helping find that puzzle-maze program just right for your 5-year-old daughter, or that custom database that will track who has every key in your company, and what those keys open.
Where are those sources, and what will you find there? Here’s a guide to the top places to find free and try-before-you-buy software:
– ZDNET (http://www.hotfiles.com) — Whatever ZDNet lacks in quantity, offering only about 12,000 files, it more than makes up for with quality. This may be the best source of shareware on the Internet.
The site, the online home of Ziff-Davis, the nation’s top technology publisher of periodicals such as PC Magazine and MacUser, sets high standards for its software archives. ZDNet scans all its files with four virus detectors. It is equally rigorous in rating the worth of
the files: To earn inclusion, a program must offer new or different features, install easily and have adequate documentation.
What’s left is the cream of free software andshareware, from nifty add-in functions for Excel or Word to the latest games. And it is easily accessible through good organization and a powerful search engine.
– C/NET: The Computer Network (http://www.shareware.com) — The company that brings you cable television shows about computers, including C/NET Central and TV.COM, has created a first-rate online site to distribute shareware and free software.
Choose Selections at the opening menu and you get the C/NET staff’s highest-rated shareware selections, organized in nine categories, from education to programming. There is a brief review, plus details about whether the program is only a demo or has reduced capabilities from a fully registered version.
C/NET doesn’t actually archive the files; it simply links to their sources. C/NET says all those major archives, such as Simtel.net, check for viruses, but it advises those who download to make it a standard practice to scan files for viruses before loading and running them.
– JUMBO (http://www.jumbo.com) — Combine a large selection of programs over 90,000 with excellent organization and you have the potential for an exceptional shareware site.
But the potential falls short, especially when it comes to giving you useful information. While Jumbo lists the top downloads, it lacks ratings, or consistent descriptions of the programs.
The service merely links the originating source, so you are at the mercy of dozens and dozens of sites on how well they screen for problem files. Follow safe downloading practices, and scan for viruses before running a new program.
– FILEZ (http://www.filez.com) — Looking for an even larger number of choices? How about 75 million files? That’s the claim of this aptly named site, which maintains it has linksto almost all publicly available files on the Internet.
While strong on resources, FILEZ leaves much of the searching up to you. Unless you have a good idea of what you are looking for, including the file name, you will find yourself walking down blind alleys before finding what you want.
Another quantity giant, File Pile (http://www.filepile.com) claims only 1.2 million entries. The collections are organized by operating system. But there are sparse program descriptions and no ratings.
– CLICKED (http://www.clicked.com ) — Quality is the emphasis at Clicked Entertainment Network, which claims to offer only the current top 20 applications in six areas: Graphics, Internet applications, communications, multimedia, games and miscellaneous utilities. You can sign up for E-mail notification when new programs are added.
Most files are located on the author’s server. Thus they are downloaded from the author’s homepage, and Clicked notes that most reputable shareware companies scan their files for viruses. Clicked double-scans all files stored on its site.
– TIGGER (http://www.gamesdomain.com/tigger/sw-kids.html) — Grace Sylvan develops shareware when she’s not sewing, quilting, parenting and creating Web pages. Her site, known as Tigger, offers many useful tips for parents trying to find just the right programs for children.
The shareware section organizes the programs by age group, and then by interest. There are even sections of programs she recommends for parents and teachers.
– GAMES DOMAIN (http://www.gamesdomain.com) — Dedicated gamers will revel in the abundance of software, tips and fun at Games Domain. The site recruits amateur enthusiasts to review shareware as well as commercial products. The dreaded floating “junk” label will warn you away from the dog downloads.
Speaking of dogs, the folks at Happy Puppy (http://www.happypuppy.com) offer a similarly thorough site for gamers. You’ll find ratings and brief descriptions for the top 100 shareware programs and demos, plus reviews of the latest commercial software.
– MICROSOFT NETWORK SHAREWARE FORUM (http://www.msn.com) — If you have MSN, you get this shareware service free, while others can access it and other MSN areas for $ 3.50 a month.
What do you get in return? More than 25,000 files, all organized and searchable, and all double-scanned for viruses.
The Association of Shareware Professionals last month unveiled a news service on the latest shareware programs. The Web site http://www.asp-shareware.org offers other useful links.
