"Freeware" is completely Free software, often written by experienced programmers & enthusiasts, and they share them with the internet community free of charge. While it's free to use, the authors still retain the copyright of their creations, as opposed to "Open Source" software where users can also modify and distribute the program under certain restrictions.

Shareware on the other hand is software you can try for free, and then buy if you want to. Many shareware authors, release so called "Freeware" or "Lite" versions of their programs, these are NOT Freeware, and we do not list them. We also don't list a whole array of clever inventions out there some people call "Freeware"

Here, we just pick and list real freeware, and that's what Freewared.com is about.