Is cnet.com Safe?

CNET / DOWNLOAD.COM IS NOW MALWARE DISTRIBUTOR IN NO WAY IS THIS SAFE / TRUSTED AVOID BY ALL MEANS

This site used to be a reliable place to download software, but lately they've been very poor at monitoring uploads, any malware or bloatware could easily slip by. I recommend downloading software from the developer's site directly instead of going through cnet. Don't trust their reviews either.

Once upon a time download.cnet.com was equivalent with safe malware-free downloads, not so any longer. The installer, which Cnet claims downloads the software in a safe way uses trickery to make you install malware - what Cnet calls "safe software from their partners". Examples of this malware are stuff like conduit search, spigot, and other browser hijackers. Some of these are notoriously hard to get rid of. If you bypass the installer and use direct download, you *may* be able to install without malware. But there are no guarantees. This is clearly a breech of trust with their customers, and a cheap way to "cash in" on 10+ years of perceived safety.

This is a safe tech news website from CBS Interactive. Unfortunately, the ***** portion of this website is very untrustworthy and infected with malware, so I am forced to give this website a bad rating. I will refuse to change this rating until CNet stops distributing sponsored program installers which will infect your computer with loads of garbage.

Back last year, this website use to deserve a green rating. But now it needs a red. For more money, cnet has put malware and then made it so people can trust them by making it a popular option by DuckDuckGo and getting a green rating on WOT. But they turned their side...

***** allows downloads to be chock full of "extras" that need to be UNchecked or you get them... or that trick with "DOWNLOAD NOW" but it is DIFFERENT program than we think we are getting. I mean, really blatant stuff. Should be beyond a bad rating, CNET should be illegal. And then on top of it, I downloaded OTSHOT and when it wasn't as advertised, I could not UNinstall it.

Major Downgrade to Yellow (Suspicious) for Trustworthiness , due to third-party malware that is now being bundled with most, if not all downloads. This really hurts the credibility of a once incredible site that used to be excellent in all areas. What a shame! The rating I would put back up to excellent, only when this piece of crap malware is proven to be removed from all downloads. Update: I have assigned a Suspicious rating to Cnet overall at their main page. A poor rating for the download section of Cnet's site. You can read the series problems with Cnet's download section, by other WOT members here: *****

This software repository is increasingly cited by customers for stealth downloads of unwanted and/or malicious software in addition to the advertised software. Recommendation: If the web site of a trusted software author offers a CNET download link, it's probably safe. Otherwise you should scan what you download from CNET for malware before you use of install it. download.cnet.com is blacklisted by Sucuri. References: http://sitecheck2.sucuri.net/results/download.cnet.com https://www.mywot.com/scorecard/download.cnet.com *****

For a long time, CNET has been a reliable source of downloadable programs. However, in recent times, they now have a download manager that installs all sorts of crud onto your computer. You can do a custom installation and uncheck unwanted toolbars, but the installation still installs other crap that's not wanted. It used to be simple to download and install things, but now you have to read the words carefully. While the end product may be a legitimate program, it's bundled with shady programs that just harass your computer and web browser.