Download site news

CNET Download.com, social gaming company Kabam, and Sweetlabs, makers of Pokki, have teamed up to bring Windows users full-screen desktop versions of four popular (formerly) social network-based games.

Formerly only available on a Web browser, users would need to log in to social sites to play. With this launch using Pokki, the games require neither a Web browser nor a connection to social networking sites--these new Pokki desktop apps let you experience The Godfather: Five Families, Dragons of Atlantis, Edgeworld, and Thirst of Night in full screen on your Windows PC.

Teaming up with Pokki and Kabam brings apps … Read more

Download Community,

I just wanted to send out a quick follow-up to my post on Wednesday.

(By the way, yes I now I have my own account, so I can post here myself. I wanted to get that last one up quickly since it was already late in coming, and Cat already had an account, so I went with it. Sad, but true. Oh, and because you all know who Cat is, but may have no clue who I am, I'm the General Manager of Download.com).

Clearly we had a big breakdown this past week and I sincerely … Read more

Dear Download.com Community,

Some press surfaced yesterday about how we're bundling advertising offers with an open source software called Nmap. The bundling of this software was a mistake on our part and we apologize to the user and developer communities for the unrest it caused. In addition to immediately taking Nmap out of the download manager, we reviewed all open source files in our catalog to ensure none are being bundled. It is a Download.com policy not to bundle open source software and we will continue to take pains to ensure this does not happen again.

Following … Read more

Long before the iTunes Store was a glimmer in Steve Jobs' eye, Download.com launched in 1996 as the most comprehensive, safest place to get all your software, from the latest drivers and codecs to professional-grade programs. It was, and still is, notable for scanning and testing its software catalog to ensure that none would infect your computer. We take a look at the history of the software world before Download.com, the rise of modern software, and where software stands now.

The software world before Download.com: The software world grew rapidly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. In … Read more

Hello, downloaders!

We want to let you know about a change you'll start to see when you download software from us over the next few weeks. CNET Download.com recently started using a new piece of software to help deliver our downloads. This new software is called the CNET Download.com Installer and it adds an extra layer of security and reliability to downloads that come from CNET.

Mac users downloading free screensavers and a video converter app from several popular download sites also got spyware that installs a back door, collects data, and sends encrypted information to remote servers, security company Intego said on Tuesday.

The high-risk spyware, dubbed OSX/OpinionSpy, was being installed along with nearly 30 screensavers developed by a company called 7art and an app called MishInc FLV to MP3, according to a list compiled by Intego.

They were found on Softpedia, MacUpdate, and CNET-owned VersionTracker, according to a post on Intego's Mac Security Blog.

VersionTracker had removed all of the items on … Read more

Download has an opinionated, intelligent, attractive (ok, now I'm just brown-nosing) user base, which is what makes user reviews on Download my favorite feature of our site by far. Sure we have our own software-obsessed editors who review this stuff for a living, but if you want color commentary, or maybe if you just like ALL CAPS, the user reviews are where the action is.

It's for this reason that we decided to spend some time improving the experience of viewing and navigating user reviews on Download. The first phase of this project went live this week and … Read more

Dear CNET Download.com readers,

Today, reviews on CNET Download.com are changing in a small but significant way. Since we began reviewing software nearly eight years ago, we have reviewed only the trial version of any software title that was also available for purchase.

For all software reviews going forward, we will evaluate and rate software based on its full version rather than just its trial version, judging an application's effectiveness as a complete piece of software. However, we will continue to highlight and discuss the limitations of a piece of software's trial version. You can read … Read more

To make it easier to see what an application looks like before going to the trouble of downloading and installing it, we've made a number of improvements to the way we show screenshots on Download.

First, we took every screenshot we've ever received from a software publisher over the past 13 years (anyone remember Doom 95?) and reprocessed it for improved clarity. Then we created a larger preview version of each screenshot and moved it to the top of the product page.

Finally, we no longer send you to a new page when you want to view a … Read more