Hey, it's me again, and I've got plenty of new sites to steer clear of if you're looking for PSP games, movies, or music. So, without further adieu, let's get started!

First on my list, which I thought I outta' mention, is 'Dark-Alex.com'. Although the site is now down, I'd like you all to give Dark_AleX your support, as this fraudulent site has weakened the renowned programmer's life. Although I say encourage, I mean please give a quiet shout-out to him and his family; please don't bother him.

The site is a rip off of Dark_Alex's authentic site, which hosts legal, relatively safe, and fantastic feats of PSP programming. The fraud, which is fuelling Alex's ****** to chase other aspects of his life, hosted illegal PSP files that would permanently damage your PSP's firmware, and did nothing of the fun, useful things that Alex's creations do. The site is an exact replica of the authentic site, and is hosted in Spain.

If you've downloaded files from here, please, DO NOT open them from your PSP. I'm very sorry if you've 'bricked' your PSP with files from there, but please don't go bothering Dark_AleX about it, he's quite sad right now.

So, it's time for the ranking!
On a scale of 1-5 stars (1 being the 'best' and 5 being the worst), this site scores: !

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Second on today's list, is everybody's all-time favorite, 'eBay'!

Although eBay doesn't purposefully sell freeware or fraudulent items, some of it's users couldn't be more of the opposite. First, I'd like to point out a few items that personally disgust me.
The first is This item. What is it? The answer is a set of 100% free, handcrafted homebrew applications, selling for about the price of a standard PSP UMD game. Another is this item, here. It's a standard PSP console, with a few extras, loaded with 2.71 SE-C custom firmware. Why's that so bad? Because the seller is using free software to jack up the price of the item in question. This particular software is made of course by Dark-AleX, and although not directly damaging him, I feel it's a mis-use of freely available code. A final item listing I'd like to show you is one that simply breaks me. It's this item. This person is selling the Dark_AleX 2.71 generic downgrader for £5 (5 GBP). Not only does this file once again defeat the purpose of free software and indirectly abuse Dark_AleX, but the seller claims to be the coder of the application! Missed that bit? I'll show you: EDIT: I'm not sure whether the author was talking about the software, or his guide. The fact remains that the selling of Dark_AleX's blood-and-sweat work is still worth snarling at in my eyes.

Despicable. So, after all this kafuffle, what's my rating?

On a scale of 1-5 stars (1 being the 'best' and 5 being the worst), this site scores: !
This site deserves no stars. The sellers deserve more than 5. Shame on those people, especially the one who claims to have written the downgrader.

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Next up, we have a PSP movie download site. It's scamming, illegal, and totally contradictory to the idea of pirating media.

The site is 'UnlimitedPSPmovies'. They promise 'Easy, fun, and unlimited' PSP movie downloads, but obviously don't have any intention of keeping you, the consumer, legal and safe. The site offers all this for only $34.95, wow. These files are probably illegal, and not only that, they're probably just links to illegal torrent downloads with no seeds. Sounds interesting? Wait, there's more! These site recommends that you disable your firewall when searching and downloading. Yikes, that's unlimited PSP movies and possibly some sneaky malicious software! Who's up for a movie? Here comes my rating!

On a scale of 1-5 stars (1 being the 'best' and 5 being the worst), this site scores: !

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I'm on fire today! Roll up, roll up, who wants to hear about 'FeedmyPSP' and 'PSPwizard123'? Well, once again, for a standard one-time fee, you get unlimited free PSP movies, games and music! Yay! There are no bandwidth limits, no time limits, and no catch. 20 million (*Cough*, Torrent, *Cough*) free files. They also offer free PSP cheats!

Bah, enough with the sarcasm. These sites are the wash-ups of the PSP content market. I hope that you don't believe their sly salesman promises for one second. The download speeds are probably slow, their testimonials are likely fake, and their 'Hacker safe' and '100% secure' labels bear the signs of a forgery. (You can tell by the pixelation and the fact that there's no hyperlink to the certificate or issuer). Plus, PSPWizard123 says that the site uses P2P software, with a warning at the bottom about not downloading copyrighted content from the web (Anyone feeling slightly suspicious?).

Now, I'd like to talk specifically about FeedMyPSP for a second. The site looks unprofessional, the security banners (once again) aren't authentic-looking, and the site claims to host 15 billion files. I smell P2P.

On a scale of 1-5 stars (1 being the 'best' and 5 being the worst), this site scores: !

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The last media downloading site I'm looking at today is 'UnlimitedPSPGames'. They're by the same people as 'UnlimitedPSPMovies', but it looks a little more scruffy, and once again bears the signature "We give you P2P links but please don't download from them as it's illegal" sort of message in the disclaimer.

On a scale of 1-5 stars (1 being the 'best' and 5 being the worst), this site scores: !

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So, how can you keep yourself safe from these scams? Well, there are a number of ways. The first is that you need to realise, nothing is as it seems. If it promises easy, legal downloads, be aware. If it has testimonials, read carefully and look for any regularities that might indicate a common author. Check the disclaimer; if it mentions P2P, leave. If it promises unlimited content, at high speeds, with a one-off or regular membership price, walk away.

The simplest thing to do would be to buy the game, or buy the movie, rip and encode it.

So, what are the tell-tale signs of these sites?

Well, first, look for a security certificate logo that is clear, and links to an authentic certificate from a reputable organisation.

Second, check the affiliates. I've seen some that are affiliated with 'Clickbank', some with 'PlatinumPartner', and some with 'i-z.com'.

If, when searching or browsing the downloads, you get a messages like 'Processing your request....', then be wary.

NEVER obey a site when it tells you to disable your security software, this is a commonly used trick to infect you with malicious software!

Lastly, use a site advisory product. I suggest downloading 'McAfee site advisor'. It's free, and very good. You can find it at Protection from Adware, Spam, Viruses, Online Scams | McAfee SiteAdvisor, or you can search for a website there. The pages contain information about downloads, email forms, security, links, cookies, and user comments.

I have deliberately not linked to any illegal or suspicious sites in question. However, they can easily be found with a Google search.

Thanks for reading! Stay safe and legal!

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