If you go to downloads.com, or tucows, or major geeks, etc., can you depend on the lesser-known programmes - most of which have been downloaded hundreds or thousands of time - to be safe, and free of contaminants? ...sheesh.... the internet is making me paranoid.

If you stick with the reputable sites that are well-used and respected you won't have any problems. I have been d/loading from Major Geeks and Tucows for years with no problems. I have never used Downloads.com but I know it is well known. If a person stays away from Wares and Porn sites 70% of the spyware infections will disappear. Peer-Peer file sharing sites are the next problem, with Kazaa being the ultra bad boy of the bunch. And of the d/loading on these sites, porn movies invite the largest number of infections. You can help yourself a lot by learning to read a HiJack This log. It won't take you long to recognize what doesn't belong on your own machine. It's not rocket science. Just run a few scans on your machine when it is clean, and print out the clean log. Now if you have probs at a later time, run a scan again and compare it against your clean log, and at least that will get you started. Google search the items you are not sure about, and use Merjyn's site where he explains the basic groupings and what they mean. It will all start to make sense quickly. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime; Then industry pollutes the water and kills all the fish.

download.com usually has an 'editor's note' on the download page which tells you if the download has any extra goodies included. Also pay attention to those license agreements that no one reads, especially toward the bottom to see if it says anything about 'additional software'.

Dont forget that some software can cause problems and mess up your system just because it is poorly written. It does not have to contain malware to be bad.

Good point. I was looking at this: http://www.download.com/Plain-Simple-Zip/3000-2250_4-10345130.html?tag=lst-0-19

If you're looking for a zip program, there are many free ones out there to choose from (ZipGenius on that page likely has more features than you'll ever need).

I check any downloads with antivirus. But download.com and tucows doesn't have any programs with viruses