What is the best site to download SAFE free software from?

[gery79]

Major-geeks or Filehippo

 

[tim one]

Usually I use Majorgeeks and Softpedia but definitely the official site is one of the best options.
Software containers are useful if you are looking for a software without having a certainty, and if/when you find it, you proceed with the download directly from that site.

 

[codswollip]

Definitely, no site that encourages you to use their downloader program, or offers special "secure" or "high-speed" connections.

 

[ElectricSheep]

Lot of good sites mentioned, but if you want to keep out the nasties (as some download texts can be very sneaky/misleading) here's a useful gizmo to uncheck the boxes that should be unchecked
Unchecky - Keeps your checkboxes clear

 

[karthic1998]

Softonic,FileHippo,sourceforge,GitHub and official websites

 

[ForgottenSeer 55474]

Major Geeks & FileHippo and Download-Crew

 

[Hector1]

Softonic,FileHippo,sourceforge,GitHub and official websites

No softonic please :X3:

 

[brambedkar59]

Lot of good sites mentioned, but if you want to keep out the nasties (as some download texts can be very sneaky/misleading) here's a useful gizmo to uncheck the boxes that should be unchecked
Unchecky - Keeps your checkboxes clear

That's a keeper. Ty

 

[bribon77]

Softpedia & FileHippo.

 

[The paranoid one]

Softonic,FileHippo,sourceforge,GitHub and official websites

Softonic should never be an option. Too much adware in your downloads, please consider other options

 

[insanity]

It's always better to download from the developers website. But like the others, I also vote for Majorgeeks.

 

[_CyberGhosT_]

What is the best site to download SAFE free software from, I'd like to try GIMP image editing but I don't want to download a load of nasties with it

@tim one touched on it as did many others, in terms of safety it is far safer to DL your free software from the publishers or developers site.
There is and most likely will be for the foreseeable future, a increased risk of tampering when downloading from 3rd party sites.
Avoid them unless there exists no better option, and in that case, sandbox and or make sure the installer is clean "before"
running it or allowing it out of a secure environment.
Good luck

 

[zzz00m]

Didn't see it mentioned yet, but checking the file hash (if available) is a good way to verify a file, especially if you get the download from a 3rd party site rather than the official developer.

A good utility for this is "HashMyFiles" HashMyFiles: Calculate MD5/SHA1/CRC32 hash of files

HashMyFiles is small utility that allows you to calculate the MD5 and
SHA1 hashes of one or more files in your system. You can easily copy the
MD5/SHA1 hashes list into the clipboard, or save them into text/html/xml
file.
HashMyFiles can also be launched from the context menu of Windows
Explorer, and display the MD5/SHA1 hashes of the selected file or folder.

It does MD5, SHA1, CRC32, SHA-256, SHA-512, and SHA-384. The description on the site is older, and doesn't list all of the hashes available in the latest version (v2.23).

And it is portable, no install required.

I especially like the Windows explorer context menu items that are optional in the settings (good to use from your download folder)!!!
1. open in HashMyFiles
2. open in VirusTotal website

 

[enaph]

MajorGeeks and FileHippo but I always prefer developer's own site.

 

[SherKaan]

In the past, I used to download from majorgeeks. Now, I like filehorse and filehippo.

 

[vtqhtr413]

Here's one you may not have heard of, Gizmo's Freeware, aka tech support alert. Offers basic reviews and download links (almost always to dev's site) for hundreds of free programs.