Stats on computer software downloads

Take a look at these relevant stats regarding computer software downloads.

No big deal in Canada

According to a survey of over 3000 Canadian students, 47% admitted to downloading pirated software from the Internet and 53% said they regularly swapped software with their friends (including serial numbers and keygens).

The survey also showed:

60% believe that using shared software is not a serious issue.

84% do not consider software sharing to be an illegal activity that warrants punishment.

69% disagree that sharing software is unethical

Regarding Canadian web users as a whole, only 12% said they were concerned about downloading computer software, of which 17% feared software malfunction, 22% were afraid of hackers and 23% were worried about spyware.

Dangerous! or not?

A white paper from the market-research firm 'IDC' reported on the downloading of Keygens and No-CD/No-DVD cracks from websites and P2P Networks.

Main findings:

25% of the websites visited attempted to install potentially unwanted software, or malicious code such as a virus, trojan or spyware

11% of the keygens and cracks downloaded from these Websites contained viruses, trojans or spyware

59% of the keygens and cracks downloaded from P2P networks contained a virus, trojan or spyware

All terrifying stuff eh, but doesn’t this data also show that 75% of these websites didn’t try to install malicious software, and are therefore safe? With a huge 89% of keygens and cracks downloaded from the websites, and 41% from P2P networks also safe?

Experienced downloaders would simply suggest that the best policy is to only use the cracks or keygens supplied with your downloaded software, and to avoid obtaining them separately from any other source.

Sources:

Ipsos

CAAST

BSA

IDC

Decima research Inc.

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