Haven't needed anything from there in a while, but back in the day there were a GREAT source for free / shareware. What you got from them might not always work exactly  as advertized, but I never got infected from a bit of software I DL'ed from them.

Day before yesterday I needed to convert a MP4 to WMV, so off to cnet I go to get what I need. Not only does it not work as expected, but I've been fighting off Trojans and malware ever since. boot time before was less than a minute.

Now it takes 4.


Is there a new, suggested goto source for small converters and such now that it appears that cnet has gone over to the dark side?

the window media player on the computer at least in the past would covert music files to that format built in free


did you fully read the install pages sometimes they sneak in use xxxx as your new search bar or start page
ive noticed that trend lately so it may have been something you allowed to install that opened auto downloads of crapware

also if you go into the add remove programs you can set it by date so you can see the newest installs
ive had them not have a name, or super old install date to fool you
so its easy to spot when you set it by date

if there is a name you dont recognize google it and it will tell you who it is

I use firefox and these programs will also add a new add on that keeps changing my startpage but once you disable and remove that stops it

Cnet has been dogshit for a good 4 or 5 years IIRC. Never heard of legit malware, but I have gotten insidious bloatware from them.

Best video transcoder is handbrake:  https://handbrake.fr/

Along with handbrake, get Vidcoder. It uses the handbrake codecs but can encode at 1080p. I use it to transcode my blurays after ripping them.
 

I haven't used them in a very long time. I find reviews saying a program is good and then I go to their own page and get it directly from the people that make it

Just sad for me as they used to be a trusted source.

Thanks for the suggestions on the converters.

Any suggestions on editing software? I've used WMM enough to know I dont like it. I dont mind paying a few bucks for decent SW. What's the step up ?
Back around '04, I was using Pinnacle. Their stuff still good?

Sourceforge is my go-to these days.

Last I checked, MajorGeeks was still OK.

The last thing I downloaded from CNET was PDF Architect, and it contained malware.  It changed the search engine on all of my browsers to Bing.  I tried it again on a throwaway virtual machine, and it was definitely what caused it.z

iirc owned by CBS, i use to love it for the software too.

cnet and tucows...   now both are 99.98% useless.  

It's a real shame.