Ghostware Archive.org |top| Jun 2026

However, the sheer volume of Ghostware makes this a game of whack-a-mole. If a defunct company created a piece of software in 1998 and went bankrupt in 2002, there is no one left to issue a takedown notice. That software becomes a permanent resident of the Archive, a ghost with no one to exorcise it.

For years, software download sites have vanished. Repositories like Download.com, Softpedia, and smaller hobbyist sites often shut down due to hosting costs or legal pressures. When these sites die, the Wayback Machine often retains a "ghost" of the download link. ghostware archive.org

The archive had a note, appended years later by a user named last_visitor : However, the sheer volume of Ghostware makes this

Archive.org scans uploads with ClamAV, but it is not a modern EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response). Plenty of ghostware contains "dormant" payloads. A keylogger from 2001 written in VB6 might still function perfectly on an unpatched Windows 7 VM. For years, software download sites have vanished