You, Download.com nation, got more than 630 million apps from our site in 2014. To put the number in perspective, that’s more than dollars spent seeing “Guardians of the Galaxy” ($332 million gross), Netflix subscribers (53 million), World Series game 7 watchers (23.5 million), Apparently Kid viewers (18 million), and US buyers of Taylor Swift’s “1989” (3.3 million).

So, what had you downloading in droves? In a word, security â€" and no surprise, since this year brought Heartbleed and Shellshock; credit card and personal info stolen from Home Depot, Target, and JPMorgan; celebrity iCloud photo hacks; and much more. If you haven’t updated your protection yet, read our take on the best security options for your needs . Many of you found utilities on our site to clean up your computers â€" another way to sweep for unwanted programs, as well as to free up hard drive space and improve system performance.

Read on to see the year’s most-downloaded apps for Windows and Mac, as well as 2014’s most popular newcomers. To keep current with new software in 2015, sign up for one of our weekly newsletters .

  1. Avast Free Antivirus
  2. … [Read more]



    Original post:
    Downloads of the Year 2014