download.com > Reviews (17)

Download.com is part of the cnet empire and as such, is a large and very well organised site. Even before the site was up and running, cnet gave the domain a lot of thought and bounght the names download.com and downloads.com therefore, whatever you type into the address bar on your browser will always find the site.

The site itself is well laid out and simple to navigate with such links at the top of the first page as: their pick of the day, Most popular, New releases, Their picks, Software reviews and Downloads forums (the latter of which is new). The downloads are not restricted to PC alone though, there are also programs for Linux, Mac, Palm and Handhelds, BeOs and DOS, which should cover just about every operating system around the world The downloads themselves are divided into catagories, such as "MP3 & Audio" or "Desktop Enhancements", etc... There are sub-catagories to take you even closer to the program you are looking for. The choice is absolutely massive, in fact, it's so huge that it may take you a while to find the one you're looking for. A helpful search option is supplied where you can type in the name of the program you are looking for and the catagory to look in and a list of the correct criteria will be displayed. Unfortunately, this list will also include many obscure and unnecessary entries. For this purpose, a filter search is supplied where you can tell it your operating system, the type of licence you are looking for (shareware, free, demo) and which sub-catagory to look in. This feature of the search is very useful and usually finds the program you want without too much fuss. On top of this is a power search option which allows you to enter details such as: program title, publisher, author, file size, etc...

When you have found that illusive program, click the link and you can get more information about it, either by the short write-up on the page, from any reviews that have been written on it or there is usually an option to visit the authors web site.

There are literally millions of programs available to download these days and it is becoming harder to find the one which suits you or one that has been reccomended by someone, this should be your first port of call.

I have been downloading programs from here for a long time now and still rate this site as one of the best for ease of use and choice. The address is simple enough too, you don't even have to bookmark it - I'm sure you can remember "Download.com" !!!

When you have half an hour to spare, take a look around their vast range of programs, drivers, reviews and forums - I know you will find it 30 minutes well spent. The only problem will be that you run out of hard drive space to put all the programs !!!

Timski