A Closer Look At CNET's Download Champs

An observant blogger recently posted a screen shot of the top Windows software on CNET download.com. The five most popular downloads as of May 9, 2009 are all anti-virus and anti-spyware tools.

It's a telling image. Free Windows anti-malware apps have knocked some tough competitors out of the top download spots. Some, such as Limewire and WinZip, have been among CNET's all-tme most popular downloads and held spots in the top five for years at a stretch.

Clearly, Windows' susceptibility to malware is a disaster of stunning proportions. It's amazing -- and disappointing -- that so many desktop PC users accept it as a fact of life.

But the blog entry made me even more curious about some of the deeper trends that a site like Download.com might reveal. What kind of software once ruled the download roost? Which applications show the most staying power as years pass, technology advances, and trends come and go?

Unfortunately, CNET doesn't provide much information about long-term download trends. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine does include quite a few snapshots of the Download.com home page, dating from Nov. 1999 to Oct. 2007. No snapshots are available after this point, leaving a notable gap in the archive between late 2007 and the current set of Download.com listings.

Keeping this caveat in mind, here are a few key trends gleaned from the Internet Archive's snapshots of Download.com between 1999 and 2007, along with the current (May 2009) top download listings:

- Traffic: CNET's weekly download figures for its top five downloads have roughly tripled over the past 10 years. The current top application, for example (the free version of Avira), showed about 2.1 million downloads the week of May 9, 2009. The number one product in Nov. 1999 (ICQ) reported about 740,000 downloads.

- Staying power: Winzip has appeared in the most popular download list for 651 consecutive weeks -- more than 12 years. Among the current top 50 downloads, only Acrobat Reader, at 555 weeks, comes close to this figure.

- The current crop of top downloads: AVG was the first of the current group of most-popular AV clients to appear on the chart (223 weeks ago as of 5/9/09). Avast has been present 115 weeks and Avira 84 weeks. The top spyware removal tool, by comparison (Ad-Aware), has been present for 332 consecutive weeks.

- Notably absent: ICQ appeared in almost every Download.com top five list I canvassed between Nov. 1999 (the first available list in the Internet Archive) and Oct. 2007. By May 2009, however, it was no longer even listed in the Download.com Top 50.

- Anti-spyware tools yield to anti-virus apps. Multiple anti-spyware tools were appearing in the top five regularly from mid-2004 until late 2006. While Ad-Aware (332 weeks on the chart) is still in the top five, AV tools rather than anti-spyware now dominate the popularity rankings.

- The changing face of P2P: Before mid-2004, file-sharing tools suich as Kazaa, Morepheus and AudioGalaxy routinely dominated the top five. After this point, Kazaa is notably absent; other file-sharing tools, however, including Limewire and iMesh, remained extremely popular. In addition, the BitComet BT client also grew in popularity as traditional file-sharing tools disappeared (or were forced off) the charts.

- Do you remember? Run back far enough through these archived pages, and you'll find some real blasts from the past. Tools like StayOn Pro (a top five download back in Feb. 2000) were a big deal back when most Internet users still dealt with dial-up connections. Now they are obscure curiosities.

A Few Conclusions

What do I conclude from these trends?

First, it is important to note that most free, high-quality anti-virus tools are relatively new arrivals on Download.com. People were using AV software before this -- a good thing, since Windows malware has been a crippling problem almost since there was a Windows. In the past, however, far more users relied on AV software for which they paid, often in the form of boxed software purchased directly from retailers.

Second, the relative decline of anti-spyware tools is not surprising. Anti-virus tools, including ones available free of charge, now perform many of the same functions anti-spyware tools once performed on a stand-alone basis. Anti-spyware apps are still important, but today, they are more likely to serve as a second (or third) line of defense than as a primary desktop security tool.

Third, while the names have changed (Kazaa may be long gone, but Limewire is still going strong), P2P software continues to hang around the top of CNET's download charts. That has been true for at least the past decade -- lawsuits be damned -- and you can bet it will be true for many years to come.

By the way, I hope all of those Limewire users are downloading their share of those free AV tools, because they are likely to need them. Downloading software off Limewire is a bit like wandering around the bad part of town, licking strange doorknobs -- and then washing your hands to avoid getting sick.

If you feel like taking a walk on the wild side, try BitTorrent instead. And when you do, consider using a real BT client like uTorrent rather than a half-busted toy like BitComet.

The Gory Details

For the truly curious, here is a list of my grabs from the CNET Download.com weekly top five Windows software rankings, courtesy of Internet Archive. I didn't include the exact dates here, and I don't plan to go back to get them :-)

My note-taking skills here also might be suspect. As a rule, I just listed the app by its short name, leaving out suffixes (i.e. "SE," "Lite," or beta-version notation). For quick-and-dirty trend-watching, however, I think this information is more than sufficient, especially when viewed over a span of several years.

Total number of "Top Download" pages reviewed: 44.

From Internet Archive:

May 2009:

1. Avira (84 weeks on chart)
2. AVG (223 weeks on chart)
3. Avast (115 weeks on chart)
4. Ad-Aware (332 weeks on chart)
5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (36 weeks on chart)

Some other longevity ratings, as of May 2009:
Limewire: 297 weeks on chart
Winzip: 651 weeks on chart
BitComet: 249 weeks on chart
Spybot: 319 weeks on chart
Adobe Reader: 555 weeks on chart

Oct 2007:

1. AVG
2. Ad-Aware
3. BitComet
4. ICQ
5. WinZip

Jun 2007:

1. Ad-Aware
2. AVG
3. ICQ
4. LimeWire
5. WinZip

Dec 2006:

1. SpySweeper
2. Spyware Doctor
3. Ad-Aware
4. BitComet
5. LimeWire

Oct 2006:

1. Spyware Doctor
2. Ad-Aware
3. SpySweeper
4. LimeWire
5. ICQ

Aug 2006:

1. LimeWire
2. Ad-Aware
3. Spyware Doctor
4. ICQ
5. SpySweeper

June 2006:

1. Spyware Doctor
2. Ad-Aware
3. ICQ
4. LimeWire
5. Morpheus

May 2006:

1. Spyware Doctor
2. Ad-Aware
3. LimeWire
4. ICQ
5. All-In-One SecretMaker

Feb 2006:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Spyware Doctor
3. ICQ
4. LimeWire
5. All-In-One SecretMaker

Dec 2005:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Spyware Doctor
3. ICQ
4. Limewire
5. Spybot

Oct 2005:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Spyware Doctor
3. iMesh
4. ICQ
5. Limewire

Aug 2005:

1. Ad-Aware
2. ICQ
3. Spyware Doctor
4. Spybot
5. iMesh

Jun 2005:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Limewire
3. ICQ
4. Spybot
5. WinZip

Apr 2005:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Limewire
3. ICQ
4. Spybot
5. WinZip

Feb 2005:

1. As-Aware
2. LimeWire
3. ICQ
4. Spybot
5. iMesh

Dec 2004:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Spybot
3. ICQ
4. Winzip
5. iMesh

Oct 2004:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Spybot
3. ICQ
4. WinZip
5. LimeWire

Aug 2004:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Spybot
3. ICQ
4. WinZip
5. ZoneAlarm

Jun 2004:

1. Ad-Aware
2. Spybot
3. ICQ
4. WinZip
5. iMesh

Apr 2004:

1. Kazaa
2. Ad-Aware
3. ICQ
4. Spybot
5. WinZip

Mar 2004:

1. Kazaa
2. Ad-Aware
3. ICQ
4. WinZip
5. iMesh

Dec 2003:

1.Kazaa
2. ICQ
3. Ad-Aware
4. iMesh
5. WinZip

Oct 2003:

1. Kazaa
2. AOL IM
3. ICQ
4. iMesh
5. WinZip

May 2003:

1. Kazaa
2. ICQ
3. iMesh
4. WinZip
5. AOL IM

Apr 2003:

1. Kazaa
2. ICQ
3. WinZip
4. AOL IM
5. iMesh

Feb 2003:

1. Kazaa
2. ICQ
3. WinZip
4. iMesh
5. ICQ Pro Beta

Dec 2002:

1. Kazaa
2. Kazaa (duplicate entry on site)
3. ICQ Pro Beta
4. ICQ Lite
5. iMesh

Sep 2002:

1. Kazaa
2. ICQ
3. WinZip
4. iMesh
5. Morpheus

July 2002:

1. Kazaa
2. ICQ
3. Morpheus
4. WinZip
5. iMesh

May 2002:

1. Kazaa
2. ICQ
3. DivX Pro
4. DivX
5. Morpheus

Mar 2002:

1. Morpheus
2. Kazaa
3. ICQ
4. WinZip
5. DivX Pro

Jan 2002:

1. Morpheus
2. ICQ
3. WinZip
4. DivX Player/Codec

Dec 2001:

1. Kazaa
2. Morpheus
3. ICQ
4. WinZip
5. DivX Player/Codec

Oct 2001:

1. Morpheus
2. Kazaa
3. ICQ
4. WinZip
5. DivX Player/Codec

Aug 2001:

1. Morpheus
2. AudioGalaxy
3. Kazaa
4. ICQ
5. WinZip

Jun 2001:

1. AudioGalaxy
2. ICQ
3. iMesh
4. WinZip
5. Morpheus

Mar 2001:

1. ICQ
2. WinZip
3. iMesh
4. AudioGalaxy
5. Download Accelerator

Oct 2000:

1. ICQ
2. Webshots Desktop
3. Scour Exchange
4. Download Accelerator
5. WinZip

Aug 2000:

1. ICQ
2. Webshots Desktop
3. Scour Exchange
4. Download Accelerator
5. WinZip

Jun 2000:

1. ICQ
2. Webshots Desktop
3. WinZip
4. Download Accelerator
5. Winamp

May 2000:

1. ICQ
2. Webshots Desktop
3. WinZip
4. Download Accelerator
5. Windows Media Player

Feb 2000:

1. ICQ
2. Webshots Desktop
3. Speednet
4. WinZip
5. StayOn Pro

Nov 1999:

1. ICQ
2. Webshots Desktop
3. Winamp
4. WinZip