How to Safely Download Shareware Games?

[ZooNamedGames]

I’ve gotten into a mood where I want to play some old shareware games, but to do so, will obviously mean downloading from less reputable locations.

So my question is, what can I do to protect my computer as best as possible from the threat of malware/viruses and the like, when downloading from these locations? 

One recurring suggestion is to just have a separate hard drive that’s entirely disconnected when not in use so malware and other baddies can’t transfer to my normal hard drive. But I’m hoping there’s less excessive solutions that can be as effective. 

Thank you and have a nice day.

[YNM]

Torrent.

[p1t1o]

Naturally, find a reputable site.

However, since its quite a niche topic, "reputable" will only come in degrees.

And no anti-virus software can be 100.0% effective.

Yup, downloading them onto an independent, air-gapped disk is one of the few really secure ways to access downloaded media.

But to be honest, you'll probably be fine with at least some kind of antimalware program ("malwarebytes" is top-notch, I believe they still do a free version, although by some reports the windows 10 security suite is quite good on its own), a vaguely reputable site, and just give everything a scan before you open or run anything. Back up important stuff if you're really paranoid.

Theres bound to be some decent sites out there that collect this stuff for posterity. Theres a ton of more recent-ish software as well that has been released on public domain jsut because they are too old to market anymore. I think the original REd Alert is one.

 

I think this might actually be the first time this millenium, that I heard or saw the word "shareware"

 

[Geonovast]

 

Virtualbox and run them in a virtual OS.

You could also run a persistent live Linux environment on a bootable USB drive and run the things in WINE.

30 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

I think this might actually be the first time this millenium, that I heard or saw the word "shareware"

 

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Geonovast

[ZooNamedGames]

36 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

But to be honest, you'll probably be fine with at least some kind of antimalware program ("malwarebytes" is top-notch, I believe they still do a free version, although by some

How’s Norton 360?

37 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

Naturally, find a reputable site.

A lot of the games I’m after are stored on a website called “Softonic”, any information or experience with it?

39 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

I think this might actually be the first time this millenium, that I heard or saw the word "shareware"

 

I may be too young to have lived it, but I certainly do live in the past. 6 1/2” floppy disks that are actually floppy!

12 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Virtualbox and run them in a virtual OS.

I’ve heard of these virtual OSs, but I’m not quite certain how to go about getting one set up.

[Geonovast]

Have you considered scouring Craigslist (or equivalent for your area) for an old XP machine?  Could probably pick up something from the Pentium 4 era for next to nothing.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Geonovast

[ZooNamedGames]

4 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Have you considered scouring Craigslist (or equivalent for your area) for an old XP machine?  Could probably pick up something from the Pentium 4 era for next to nothing.

Some of the games I’m after a slightly newer (indie games of the early 2010s, late 2000s) and I doubt that some of those games would run well on such old hardware.

[Geonovast]

3 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Some of the games I’m after a slightly newer (indie games of the early 2010s, late 2000s) and I doubt that some of those games would run well on such old hardware.

Well, I didn't mean you had to get an early XP machine.  But CL can be good for getting cheap older computers that might be exactly what you want.  It's probably the easiest solution.

 

18 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

How’s Norton 360? 

I stopped suggesting Norton once it hijacked my mom's computer because she didn't want to pay to renew her subscription.

 

[ZooNamedGames]

1 minute ago, Geonovast said:

I stopped suggesting Norton once it hijacked my mom's computer because she didn't want to pay to renew her subscription.

 

Most AV I’ve used have that problem but seeing as I have it active, my only question is how effective is it?

[p1t1o]

56 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

How’s Norton 360?

Unknown, probably ok-ish, though I hear around that the big names (Norton, McAffee) are generally the worst. They are either defeated first, or they are just a pain in the neck (take tons of resource, un-shut-downable, borderline un-uninstallable).

I can only recommend what I use, I paid a one-off fee for malwarebytes for a permanent subscription but the free version has most of the same features (though Ive not used that version for a while). Its done enough for me that Im confident in its effectiveness. Its also super-not-annoying.

Quote

A lot of the games I’m after are stored on a website called “Softonic”, any information or experience with it?

No experience with it, but looks legit at first glance.

Quote

I may be too young to have lived it, but I certainly do live in the past. 6 1/2” floppy disks that are actually floppy!

Our first computer was a 286 with 640kb of RAM and a 2MB HD and a pre-microsoft OS. OK that makes me sound really old, but I was like 5.

****

Possibly useful links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_video_games_released_as_freeware

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_video_games

Check out "abuse", it rocked way back when.

Looks like many of the early Command & Conquer games are available straight from EA.

 

****

Its not what you are looking for but in case anyone is interested:

Filehippo is a good and safe website for free software, but they dont do games. Good place for free (and good) anti-malware.

Spybot-search-and-destroy and Ad-Aware are good, and there are some removal tools if you get a pernicious case of something nasty.

 

 

disclaimer - any advice I give on computers...or anything really...is to be taken or left, final call rests with the computer owner

Edited May 15, 2018 by p1t1o

[Deddly]

I've had good results from Comodo. It's free with no compromises and includes sanboxing, so you can run the game in a virtual box disconnected from the rest of the machine (in fact, it will automatically do that with most things unless you turn it off)

[Nuke]

the idea behind shareware was to let you try before you buy. licenses make them free to copy so using torrent software should still be legal so long as its not cracked to unlock the paid portion of the game. license agreements for those reflect this. that said its probibly a good idea to scan them with your virus scanner of choice before running it. should be enough o stay safe. try to look for shareware/abandonware sites. 

i really miss the shareware era. it was a very consumer friendly approach to software publishing. i played so many great shareware games and i kind of regret not buying many of them (which is likely why it isnt as popular as it used to be).   

[Kerbart]

On 5/15/2018 at 1:05 PM, ZooNamedGames said:

Most AV I’ve used have that problem but seeing as I have it active, my only question is how effective is it?

This was many years ago, but without exaggeration having Norton on my computer was worse than having a virus. Performance doubled and file operations got about 5 times as fast after I had removed it. They then contacted me if I wanted to fill out a survey why I removed Norton. Oh yes, I was more than happy to give them my opinion. I do believe in AV software but never again Norton. Have they sunken low from Norton Utilities and Norton Commander...

[p1t1o]

7 hours ago, Nuke said:

i really miss the shareware era. it was a very consumer friendly approach to software publishing. i played so many great shareware games and i kind of regret not buying many of them (which is likely why it isnt as popular as it used to be).   

It was cool right? Remember getting like 20 games with PC magazines?

Shareware games is how I learned computers.

[KerbolExplorer]

I recommend dont doing this kind of stuff.

last time i tried dowlading a payid game for free i got a virus that nearly destroid my PC

[XB-70A]

43 minutes ago, KerbolExplorer said:

last time i tried dowlading a payid game for free i got a virus that nearly destroid my PC

It's a big risk indeed. It also depends of what you are aiming to play with. If it's a last gen. popular video game downloaded from a "risky" (illegal) platform in the next days following its release, then there is a high risk potential. Older (even more with out-dated games), and/or unpopular games could be accessed with a lower probability of being attacked.

The priority (to me), is to find and select a common and heavily moderated share site. Some of them are a bit more honest than others.

Also, it's not about shareware, but some abandonware-specialized websites are also pretty safe, and the status of the games available with them are somewhat legally safe too. 

[KerbolExplorer]

 

1 hour ago, XB-70A said:

It's a big risk indeed. It also depends of what you are aiming to play with. If it's a last gen. popular video game downloaded from a "risky" (illegal) platform in the next days following its release, then there is a high risk potential. Older (even more with out-dated games), and/or unpopular games could be accessed with a lower probability of being attacked.

The priority (to me), is to find and select a common and heavily moderated share site. Some of them are a bit more honest than others.

Also, it's not about shareware, but some abandonware-specialized websites are also pretty safe, and the status of the games available with them are somewhat legally safe too. 

Yeah what I tried to download was surviving mars a week after its release

[Nuke]

On 5/16/2018 at 7:21 PM, Kerbart said:

This was many years ago, but without exaggeration having Norton on my computer was worse than having a virus. Performance doubled and file operations got about 5 times as fast after I had removed it. They then contacted me if I wanted to fill out a survey why I removed Norton. Oh yes, I was more than happy to give them my opinion. I do believe in AV software but never again Norton. Have they sunken low from Norton Utilities and Norton Commander...

norton is a time bomb. every new pc seems to come bundled with a free norton trial, which everyone installs and uses. then the license expires and you have zero protection. so the pc starts collecting viruses at that point. having worked as a system builder we would always have computers come back about 2 months down the road as "defective" we would format the drives, reinstall and send it back. i convinced my supervisor to have the damn thing removed from free software disk in favor of avg, which was still really good at the time. it greatly reduced the number of support cases we had to deal with. 

most viruses get caught by the scanner, but your license has to be good first, your definitions need to be up to date, and its got to be active. i dont think ive ever had a serious virus problem since the 90s (and that was from not using virus protection). most of the time you get a threat neutralized warning and its over. 

Edited May 22, 2018 by Nuke