Over the last couple of years many of the best freeware and shareware download sites have disappeared or been eaten up by giants like ZDNet.
Of those remaining, these are my favorites. Each has been given a rating, based on my evaluation criteria. (and my personal preferences of course ;>)
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Outstanding Sites
ZDNet and CNet Downloads These two sites are just different faces of the same site. That site however, offers the biggest collection of software on the web. Finding what you want is easy because they have best file search engine of them all. Details
No-NagsSimply the best freeware download site on the web. The shareware side is slowly being added and is not yet as impressive. Details
SnapFiles / WebAttack Offers a huge collection, great organization and a refreshingly clean presentation let down by a somewhat unhelpful file search facility. Details
MajorGeeks This site only carries tech tools and utilities and there's not a lot of guidance to help you select wisely. However if you are looking for tech tools this is THE place to go. One of my favorites. Details
FileForum-Betanews Not the largest download collection but if you are looking for very latest products you'll find them here long before other download sites. Details
Highly Recommended Sites
TucowsHuge collection with world-wide mirrors for fast downloading. The Classic "cow ratings" for products are as reliable as ever. This once class-leading site has lost its way a little in recent times.
ServerFiles.comThis is the old 32bit.com site re-launched as a specialist site for server software for network administrators and IT professionals. Quite a few products have ratings, some with full reviews. It's a unique offering and highly recommended if you fit the target market
SoftPedia A large commercial site with a good collection of user reviews marred by lots of ads and general screen clutter.
5 Star SharewareThis quality UK site claims to feature only the best products in each category. And it does...almost.
VoodooFiles A specialist download site for gaming, multi-media and performance tweaking. Lots of quality reviews.
topshareware.com A good general interest download site that's competent enough but fails to offer anything to distinguish itself from other similar sites.
Recommended Sites
Shareware JunkiesEvery product here is independently reviewed though many of the reviews are becoming dated. Can be helpful when you are trying to decide what you need.
Allen's WinApps List A fast and well organized site with a huge selection of software but the search engine is woeful and there is little in the way of guidance either.
WinPlanet
This is the aging remnant of the once excellent Stroud's CWS Apps site. It's now part of the Internet.com mega-site and is still useful site with many products rated and some reviewed. Overall though, it is but a pale shadow of its former self.
Pass The SharewareA limited and somewhat aging collection but refreshingly free of advertising.
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Reviews
FileForum /Beta News
This site has been one of my long time favorites for finding the latest new utilities.
The clean home page display around 13 of the most popular software categories with a link to expanded set of categories. Each category is well described with the sub categories clearly shown. This makes it pretty easy to a quickly locate the program or class of program you want.
There is also a search facility offered which gives throws up a list of products meeting the search term along with a relevance rating, a short product description, user rating, release date and number of downloads.
Unfortunately the search listing is by search relevance only and can't be sorted by other columns such as user rating, The list also spans multiple pages which makes browsing awkward.
Generally speaking the search facility is really best reserved for finding a specific product rather than a list of products to consider. If it's the latter you are after then you are far better off going through to the appropriate category listing where you are presented with a similar layout of information as the search results but with the added ability to sort by any column.
Individual product information pages are well laid out with good product independent descriptions rather than rehashes from the vendor's website. Particularly useful are the user comments which are reproduced in full.
Additional guidance is provided from the home page where you can find links to the most popular files, the highest rated files and the sites own top selections. The range of downloads good but is not in the same league as super sites like ZDNet as the emphasis is generally on new products and new versions.
However if you are interested in new products or new versions then FileForum should be high on your list.
MajorGeeks
This is not your normal shareware site. First it concentrates on technical tools and utilities, second all products are reviewed by the site.
This makes the site a haven for the experienced users. Mom and Pop users had best look elsewhere.
All products are nicely categorized on the home page so you can go straight to the type of product you are looking for. There's also a search button but it just throws up a list of product names with no other information. Unless you are looking for a specific product, you are better off heading straight to the appropriate category.
The problem with using categories is that you may not be sure which is the right one. For example I was looking for download managers. Nothing seemed to fit perfectly but I guessed "Internet Tools." I guessed right, others may have had to hunt through several categories before they found what they want.
When I did click on Internet Tools I was presented with a very long alphabetic listing of file names with compact summary information on each. It's more information than you get with the search facility but its compact format makes it hard to use. You get a one line description, submission date, price, file size, operating system suitability, number of downloads and user rating.
Some files are flagged "Pick" or "Hot" and this helps focus your attention on what can be a rather featureless listing.
Clicking on an individual file to you to a product page. There you will find a more complete description with download links to a number of US mirrors as well as European and Asian sites.
Elsewhere on the site there are some full product reviews though unfortunately there are fewer than 30 reviews. Pity, the reviews are quite good.
Apart from these few reviews the site provides little overall guidance. The user is left to wade through individual products, look at user rating and download numbers and make up their own mind. This is of course exactly what geeks like to do.
Overall, just the spot to find technical tools. It is indeed a geek's paradise. You'll find me hanging out there a lot ;>)
SnapFiles / WebAttack
The SnapFiles site is a the latest incarnation of the old WebAttack site. It covers a broader range of products than the old site but otherwise retains some of the former site's excellent features.
The search box is conveniently located on the home page and offers several search options including free text or advanced Boolean search. Searches can also be restricted to freeware
I used the free text option and it rather conveniently through up hits to specific product categories that fitted my search terms as well as to individual products.
Clicking on one of the product categories throws up a single long page with all the products in the group. Although this will increase the page load time for slower connections it's actually the best way way to display the information. I'd much rather scroll down a long page than flipping from page to page.
Each product carries a site ranking, popularity, date added, a 50-100 word description, license details and links to screenshots and more detailed information.
The detailed information on the product page is not all that more detailed than the summary. The product description and much of the other information is identical. It does however give access to user ratings though not many products have never been rated by users.
The site rating system provides some product guidance as does the download popularity. I must say rather too many products were rated 5 stars for my liking. Too many in fact, to provide tight guidance.
Additional guidance is available from a separate page of the top 100 downloads. I must say that looking at the list of most popular downloads that top products I found few I would recommend. As ever quantity does does not equate with quality.
Overall, this site offers a lot of information presented very clearly. I just wish they restricted their top five star rankings to the absolute best products in their class.
ZDNet C|net Downloads
The download section of these sites is essentially the same so I'll treat them as one even though there are some minor differences.
Search is available straight off the front page and it looks a lifeline amongst the clutter. But make sure that you select "downloads" from the drop down list beside the search box otherwise you'll drown in a sea of information as you'll be searching the whole site.
Search for a generic term like 'FTP client" and you'll end up with a list of actual products that fall into this group. The really good news is that the search results show a lot of information including :
  • user ratings
  • total downloads
  • weekly downloads
  • site editor ratings
  • user ratings
  • file dates
  • short descriptions
Furthermore you can sort the results on any of these categories - a very useful feature.
This information will help you quickly home in on a product to fit your needs. That's what we expect of a shareware search engine and this is one of the few that deliver.
Increasingly I see sponsored ads for products in the search results. They are reasonably clearly marked but beginners could still mistake them for normal products listings. Just be careful.
Once you click on an a specific file, you'll get a whole page of information with just about everything you need including user ratings and sometimes the sites own ratings ratings and even less frequently, a proper review. Click on download and the file will be sent to you straight from the site.
If you want more guidance, you can try the Editor's Picks section. However be warned that given these sites are huge, you will be offered a somewhat confusing choice of different picks from different journalists and different categories. But at least guidance is there. Somewhere anyway.
Summary. A truly great shareware section with an almost ideal search engine, although I would like the guidance to be a little more consistent, coherent and formalized.
No-Nags
As the original Windows freeware site on the Internet, Nonags has taken on almost legendary status. Currently carrying millions of hits a day, they are clearly doing something very right
These days the site has expanded into shareware as well, though on slightly different terms to the freeware. All freeware on Nonags is truly free, is of high quality and not crippled, otherwise it doesn't get listed. The same is not true of their shareware listings. Here, many products are unrated and may have time and feature limitations - just like other shareware sites.
As with Tucows, Nonags has many mirror sites and this comes at a cost. You have to go though 3 screens selecting mirror sites before you even get to the first page. From there, it's still one more click to get to the search panel or category listing.
The search feature is disappointing with many odd results - it generally leads you to a category rather than a product, even if you are looking for a product. Quite simply, it needs tuning.
Thankfully, the category selection works like a charm. The categories are logically chosen and are clearly presented along with detailed sub-categories to aid selection. The shareware section has an "under construction" notice but what we saw was still impressive.
Click on a subcategory and you will find a list of applications in file date order, each featuring a useful short description and a few other details. The top 6 products in each group carry a special flag and these provide useful guidance. They would be even more useful if they were sorted to the top of the listing.
There are no more detailed descriptions of products beyond the above. Downloads are directly from the vendors' sites.
A notable omission for the shareware items are the license conditions. This should be remedied as a priority.
Summary. If you are looking for quality freeware this is the place to go. For shareware, there are currently better options.

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Evaluation Criteria
There are now many shareware sites on the Web. To receive my recommendation a site must stand out from the crowd in terms of providing high usability.
Usability is a combination of many elements including:
  • A clear navigational structure that facilitates finding a specific product or product group quickly
  • A clean site where the advertising does not distract excessively
  • The provision of useful guidance information to help users find the product that best suits their needs
  • Clear and concise product specifications including licence conditions
  • Objective product descriptions rather than rehashes of vendor descriptions
  • An extensive collection of products either generally or within the area targeted by the site
No site I looked at got a perfect score in all these dimensions though some came close. Guidance is a particularly weak area for many sites.
I'm consistently amazed at how many sites don't sort recommended products to the top of their listings. It's a simple oversight and one which would greatly improve a site's ranking in my survey.