Files you find on the internet can be dangerous, no doubt about it. We're trying to help you make informed decisions about what files you can trust, and which ones you may not be able to.

The source of the driver makes the biggest difference in terms of the likelihood that your driver will be safe for you to use (free of viruses, trojans, malware, etc.). The files in our archive typically come from one of four sources:

1. manufacturer's website (or other trusted third-party support sites)
2. hard drive/cd-rom of one of our paid techs
3. hobbyist or untrusted third-party support site
4. hard drive/cd-rom of one of our members

The safest source is the manufacturer's website or a trusted thirdparty website (for example, an HP printer driver located on Dell's website). Almost as safe is a file uploaded by one of our paid techs. They upload drivers from safe sources such as the CD ROMs that come with new hardware and from files previously downloaded from trusted thirdparty sites.

Hobbyist/untrusted sites can be a perfectly safe source from which to get drivers, but the source must be evaluated on a case by case basis. It's important to pay attention to the ratings and comments left by other members.

Our member uploaders are some of the most intelligent, dedicated, and professional support people we could ever hope for. But some practice safer computing than others. The member uploaders must earn your trust by having highly rated uploads, with no reports of serious trouble.

This driver/firmware/software was transferred directly from a trusted site to our archive. It is highly improbable (though not impossible) that it contains a virus, trojan, malware, etc. If a driver is both site trusted and user trusted it will be listed only as site trusted, since that is the most critical, and makes the other trust issue redundant.
The driver/firmware/software was uploaded from the hard drive/cd-rom druve of one of our paid techs or trusted members. It is improbable (though not impossible) that it contains a virus, trojan, malware, etc.
It must be stressed that we do our absolute best to protect you and your computers. Our driver archive is virus scanned daily, always with the latest virus signatures. In addition we automatically quarantine and review content based on member feedback. Despite all those efforts, there is always a risk: Make backups, use anti-virus, anti-spyware software.