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Is Abandonware Safe? Major abandonware sites like MyAbandonware and Abandonia are safe, serving thousands of users every day.
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#ABANDONWARE GAMES MALWARE SOFTWARE#
For acceptance into our software library, a software title must meet our strict criteria for abandonware or pre-release software. Under most interpretations of international copyright law, the distribution of abandonware sits squarely in a legal grey-area. Those who distribute abandonware are unlikely to end up in court, so long as they comply with any cease-and-desist notices. Can you trust abandonware?īecause of the obstacles laid out above, abandonware appears relatively safe from a legal standpoint. How long until something is abandonware?įor most published works, the duration is 70 years after the author’s death. What are some examples of abandonware?įor example, Windows XP is considered abandonware since it applies to the above concepts (updates and support are no longer available from Microsoft) but is also discontinued software since Microsoft released an official statement. There is no legal precedent for ripping and downloading ROMs for games you own, though an argument could be made for fair use. Is it legal to download old PC games?Įmulators are legal to download and use, however, sharing copyrighted ROMs online is illegal. Windows games may be provided with a NoCD program, these are well known to carry malware or worms. However, old DOS programs won’t be able to contaminate your system. We never modify the game archives we provide, but not all of them are tested by an antivirus. While abandonware is generally just taken to mean an old game that can be downloaded for free, it actually isn’t that simple – there are a few different types of abandonware games. Is Abandonware Legal? Technically, no, abandonware is not legal.