Finding Software on the Internet Just as there are search engines for locating information, there are also places on the Web to search for software. Software can include shareware, freeware, demos, multimedia files, program patches and upgrades. Some of these sites are basically online software stores where you can search for, find out about, and download software to try or buy. These may include a rating system, descriptions of the software, popularity, compressed file size and other information.
Some sites guarantee software from their site to be virus-free.
You can then either use FTP client software to download the file, or most browser programs also are capable of downloading files from an FTP site. Another source of software information is in print. Internet books, magazines and resources may include information on shareware, freeware and public domain software available over the Internet. Another place for that information is one of the many newsgroups or mail lists that discuss software. A virus becomes active and is often spread when an infected program is loaded into memory.