The Internet is not only a good source of information on about every subject. You will also find many sites that allow you to download new programs and other useful software that you can copy directly to your computer. It also offers files that contain videos, music and games. Before you can use these files, they first have to be copied to your hard disk. This process is called downloading. Webpages usually have links to downloadable files.

If you click on one of these download links, your browser immediately copies the files onto your computer's hard disk drive.

Today, there is a very wide range of different kinds of computer games that you can download. Very often big gaming software companies allow you to download a trial version of a game that they have just released. They call these either trialware or shareware.

Typically, the companies provide shareware so you can download the games and try before buying it. The games usually are demo versions with limited features.

A shareware is accompanied by a request for payment that the person who downloaded the computer game is required to pay after a certain amount of time has past.

Free trial software is one of the main reasons for the rapid growth of the gaming industry. Today the industry is worth more than $10 billion. With games costing an average of $40, it's a wise decision to download computer games for trial first. Most new video games released have their own dedicated website, so players can be updated on latest news and sequels. Many of the computer games offering a free trial have a specific mission that the player can try out. In this way he can get a feeling for the scenarios and the overall design of the game.

If you want a new gaming software, there are thousands of downloadable games available on the internet including classic games that you may not find in a regular software store.

Nevertheless there are disadvantages downloading shareware. The main drawback when downloading computer games is that the bigger the file size, the longer it will take your computer to write the information on its hard disk drive. This often can be a tedious process that can tie up your phone line for a long time.

Another factor that may affect the time it takes your computer to download the game is when there are a lot of other users that are trying to download the same file as you.

Then there is the virus worry. Many users worry that downloading a file could result in their computer being infected by a virus. However, times have changed and what was a problem in 2004 is no longer a problem in 2006. Big companies have their websites scanned for viruses on a regular basis and files offered for download are also scanned.