FreewareBB Information

Temporarily suspending request and suggest forum

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 09:25:09 +0000

Please note that we are currently working on a new system of submissions for the site which will improve the entire submission process and make it even easier for members to submit downloads to the site. Whilst we are working on this modification to the site, I feel it's appropriate to temporarily suspend this section to avoid a backlog of submissions.

Further info will follow on this development shortly
Marko

New rules for new posters

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:45:08 +0000

FreewareBB has recently been experiencing a lot of spam on the site and via the personal messenger system. As a result, and to avoid any further inconvenience or distress to our members, we have unfortunately had to bring in certain restrictions to new posters.

This means, that new posters to the site will have their post's moderated until they reach an approved post count of 5. New poster's will also be restricted to sending 5 PM's per day, but this restriction is lifted once you reach 5 approved post's. Our moderators normally approve post's very quickly so there will be minimum delay in having your post on the site as a new poster

It is regretful that we have to introduce these restrictions but I'm sure most people will agree they will help the site clear itself of unwanted spammers and those who are just annoying other members. Subsequently, you move to the "Advanced Member" group after 5 approved post's which automatically removes ads from your view also.

It goes without saying that if you ever receive a PM or any other contact from another member you are not happy with, please let us know about it immediately and we will take the necessary action.

Kind Regards
Marko and The FreewareBB Team

Update 3.3 to FreewareBB

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:22:13 +0000

The next update from our site developers is v3.3. The last major version update was v3.0 although v3.3 is much more subtle and brings only a few new features with the majority of the work and effort being more in the backend of the site, helping visibility on the net through SEO and making the site more stable, faster and nicer to use.

READ MORE

Rules for adding a download to our site

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:20:03 +0000

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING RULES BEFORE SUBMITTING

1. DUPLICATES: Please search for your software on our site before submitting it - if you find it, contact a member of staff and we can transfer ownership. Duplicate submissions will be deleted.

2. TRIAL SOFTWARE: If you are submitting a trial version which has limited functions after the trial YOU MUST include those details in your listing, and specify what the free version will continue to do. If you do not, it's very possibly we will consider your software to be shareware and will delete your software immediately and possibly ban your account. Please don't try it, we do check!.

3. YOUR WEBSITE: Please make sure your website is not listed in WOT and/or SiteAdvisor negatively, if it is, it's unlikely we will accept your submission unless there are very few ratings or comments.

4. VIRUSES: If you attempt to submit spam, virused files or commercial software we will delete your software and ban you from the site - your choice !!. If your software is known to have a false positive, make a note of these in the Special Notes section and please try and include even a short explanation to help us and the members appreciate those false positives.

5. CONTENT: Both the content of your software and your website will be checked - FreewareBB is a family friendly site and as such your software or site should not make reference to adult content or otherwise inappropriate material not suitable for all ages.

There could be other reasons we may not accept your submission, and if you are aware of anything that we could potentially be suspicious about, please contact us through the forums and let us know about them BEFORE submitting your software.

Ads on FreewareBB and their importance

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:20:45 +0000

Free sites like FreewareBB rely heavily on revenue generated from advertisements. When you use an adblocker you are removing adverts from your view that you may have found interesting or relevant to the subject matter you are looking for.

As more people use adblockers, the potential for us to cover hosting costs and develop the site reduces. In fact, it's been some time since we were able to pay hosting cost's using revenue generated on the site, I'm personally paying for it now.

If you do use an adblocker, please consider whitelisting our site which is 100% safe, clean and only uses ads from Google which are family friendly, although if you do see an ad you think is inappropriate, please feel free to let us know about it and we'll make sure it doesn't get served in future.

Above all, please try and help the safest, cleanest and most pro-active freeware site around from staying alive and don't block our advertisements

Kind Regards
Marko

Why Donate To FreewareBB?

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 08:40:50 +0000

When I first started FreewareBB I did so from a home computer connected to my own internet provider. This was a simple connection but wasn't tailored to serve a website to the world, and as the months went on, the site became busier.

As such, we now have to host the site on professional servers to keep up with the demand for our services. These cost's can be considerable at times, and although we display ads to generate revenue to pay for these services we don't always raise enough to cover the costs and so I personally fund the balance.

By donating to FreewareBB, you can help ensure that we are able to pay for the future services we have to use and keep the site alive. Also, as we think of new and exciting additions for the site and as members and visitors suggest them, we sometimes have to request the services of experienced programmers or web designers which can be costly (which is why we don't do it often) but with future donations we can plan ahead and introduce a whole host of additional features to help all our users enjoy the site even more!.

We would never ask for anyone to donate an amount they couldn't afford and we understand not everyone is able to donate, we only ask that you consider donating (no matter how small or large) if able to do so, whether it's a few pence (cents) or a few pounds (dollars). All donations are greatly received

To make a donation please use the 'Donate' button which you will find on any download link page.

Kind Regards
Marko and The FreewareBB Team

Our scanning and checking policy

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:40:35 +0000

Before a download is added to FreewareBB we run the file through http://www.virustotal.com/ as a precaution and if we find anything suspicious the download is not approved and further checks are made. It's not unusual for scanning services which use multiple engines to produce false positives, which is why we don't rely entirely on them, but instead we choose to further scan the file with our own local installation of Avast antivirus which always has the latest, up-to-date definitions installed.

When any file is updated, it is taken offline until a member of staff re-approves it at which time it is scanned and checked again and only after a clean bill of health is it approved and made live on the site again.

No virus scan can offer 100% protection or detection, even if they claim it, but with checks like these and cross-referencing of the developers website with services such as http://www.linkextend.com/ and site advisories such as WOT, SiteAdvisor and BrowserDefender we are pleased with our safety record which we believe is amongst the best around. As far as we are aware, NO OTHER download site goes to these lengths to check their listings, and it was because of this we decided to introduce those checks to FreewareBB!.

We have a wonderful community here at FreewareBB, and in the unlikely event that you do find a problem, please let us know about it and help keep FreewareBB a safe, clean and family friendly environment.

Thanks
Marko

Why we remove software

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:30:10 +0000

When we find a troublesome download on our site, (i.e. it now contains viruses or is no longer freeware), we normally remove our support for it and change the title to include the word "(REMOVED)".

We do this, rather than just delete the listing, for a few reasons - the first is to make sure we don't re-list the software in future as some developers will use all kinds of tricks to fool download sites, and the second is to draw everyone's attention to the fact we have removed our support for that software - the precise reason for our decision will usually be found in the comments area for that download.

The last reason we don't like to just delete a listing as sometimes it can be a genuine mistake by the developer, there could be a problem with their website (i.e. dead links, etc) or it could be something else happening which is out of the developers control. If the problem was rectified, we can easily re-instate the listing without any fuss

If you do find any problems with a listing on our site, please use the comments section to tell us about it and we will deal with it immediately.

Kind Regards
Marko and The FreewareBB Team

Upgrade work on FreewareBB

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:47:53 +0000

We will be upgrading the core of our website in the coming few days (29th-30th October 2009). We cannot, unfortunately, give a specific time when this will happen but during the upgrade process of FreewareBB the site will be offline and unavailable to everyone for a short while.

The very nature of the upgrade can, and often is, fraught with complications due to the extensive customizations we have made over the years and while we didn't plan for this until next year we now feel it is prudent to have the latest core from our support team at Invision Power Services which introduce improvements to existing features as well as brand new additions we feel you will find extremely useful!.

After the upgrade, the entire site will have a completely new look and feel and you may need to bear with us for a short while so we can make any necessary changes to the site to bring back the customizations you have come to know and love

We hope the upgrade will be as painless as possible to everyone although please do remember even though we may be down for a short time, we'll still be here!.

Marko

Many Emails Still Not Getting Through!

Tue, 05 May 2009 23:40:26 +0000

Unfortunately, our old email problem has surfaced once again although we feel now that the main bulk of the issue seems to lay with the email holders themselves. Many members have chosen to sign up with "throwaway" email accounts and simply abandon them which now means when freewarebb send emails to members we are receiving a whole heap of NDR's which is clogging up our systems. Therefore, we now have no alternative but to mark these accounts as "Email Bouncers" which means they will be excluded from future emails from us and the member accounts themselves will be highly limited on our site.

We are limiting these accounts purely for safety reasons as when people use "throwaway" email accounts it could be they simply don't know whether the site they are signing up for will spam them or it could be for other, more sinister reasons (i.e. they intend to spam the site).

If you find that your member account has been marked as an "Restricted" incorrectly, unfortunately there is little we can do about it as we have went to great lengths to ensure our site remains in line with the policies of all email providers and ISP's and we feel we have done all we can therefore future email issue's will need to be addressed between yourself and your own email provider or ISP.

It is regrettable that we have to take this action although we simply do not have the resources or time to constantly battle with everyone's email systems in an environment where legitimate websites such as ours cannot compete against the ever increasing and changing policies put in place by the big email providers who, in our opinion, are doing more to dissuade the good guys than they are to fight to spammers.

Over and out!
Marko