Coppins Systems Services

Finding software on-line

Googling for software that you need to install on your computer can be a bit of a hazardous task; for example, Google’s advertisements above the list of normal search results as well as down the far right side of the web page can be rented by whoever wishes to pay for them.

So if someone pays enough for an ad that appears when people search for say ’Adobe Reader’, then their link will be at the top of the search results list, at which point they could design a website that looks legitimate and provide a malware version (virus, spyware) of Adobe Reader to infect your computer.

Here’s an example:

Look at the web address beneath the main title of the advertised link (the bit in green).  This won’t take you to the Microsoft website.  The next link down has windows.microsoft.com, which is owned by Microsoft - once you own a domain, you can create links like windows.microsoft.com, download.microsoft.com, etc.

There are a few ways around this problem:

• Don’t use Google, go straight to the genuine website (e.g. www.adobe.com) using the address bar at the top of your browser.  This option is fine if you know the address of the website.
• Use Google, but avoid advertised links.  Furthermore, most big software companies won’t register a domain based on the name of one of the pieces of software they’ve designed, but their own company name instead.  So finding a legitimate copy of say Adobe Reader is more likely to be at www.adobe.com than say www.adobe-reader.com.
• If in doubt, ask someone who knows.  Incidentally, I don't charge for advice given on the phone or e-mail.

To assist customers, I’ve provided the following links to software that people commonly wish to download.

Adobe Reader or Adobe Flash Player:  http://www.adobe.com/

Avast Anti-Virus Free:  http://www.avast.com/

AVG Free Edition:  http://free.avg.com/

Google Chrome:  https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/

iTunes:  http://www.apple.com/itunes/

MalwareBytes:  http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Microsoft Security Essentials:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/security-essentials-download

Mozilla Firefox:  http://www.mozilla.org/

LibreOffice:  http://www.libreoffice.org/

VLC Media Player:  http://www.videolan.org/