Notice: The servers that Ares Galaxy and Ares Ultimate use for initial connection have been under attack lately, sometimes making it difficult for first time users to make the initial connection to the network. Ares Ultra 5.0 and the latest version of Ares Vista do not have this vulnerability, so If you are unable to make the initial connection to the network, download
Ares Ultra 5.0, or
Ares Vista In 2002 the origional version of Ares was developed as an open-source software project, which means that the source code is freely available for anyone to modify. As a result, several different versions of Ares are now available, but all use the same network and files are shared between users with different versions. The menu layout and appearance (the "skin") is the main difference.
The most important feature of the versions we recommend below is customer support. By their very nature, all P2P filesharing applications are prone to erratic behavior at times, and having someone to call or email for help is a big plus.
You should also be aware that there are some
Ares scam sites that offer a free Ares download, but bundle the file sharing software with Spyware or adware. The versions of Ares we recommend below all have excellent customer support, and are certified by download.com as being free of any adware.
Ares Vista Was developed in late 2007, specifically to work with the increased security features of Windows Vista, that have been causing havoc for users of other version of Ares and other P2P filesharing programs.
Ares Ultimate is the latest version of Ares developed in April 2008, and is tuned specifically for downloading MP3s. Special features include automatic filtering of corrupt MP3 files, and an integrated playlist with shuffle mode, along with a full technical support staff.
Ares Ultra was developed in mid 2006. Users can share any digital file including images, audio, video, software, documents, etc. You can search for and download just about any type of file shared by other users. Ares Ultra supports
BitTorrent protocol and
Shoutcast radio stations.
Ares Galaxy is the origional version of Ares, developed in 2002. Along with the standard features that all version of Ares share like fast multisource downloads and library organizer, Ares Galaxy also has a full chat room. One drawback is the lack of customer support
There are
other versions of Ares that are also free for downloading, although some
Ares scam sites come bundled with adware. You can read the
reviews on the versions we recommend above, as well as some other versions we have tested. We are reviewing more versions and will be adding those reviews soon.