Here's the situation:

I'm looking for a "safe" download site for CorelDraw X3. I have the full, boxed program with all the disks, manuals, etc., but it's home in Canada.

I'm "snowbirding" in Arizona, but I've found that I need the program. I contacted my daughter back home and she sent me the Activation Code, now I'd like to download the program.

In doing some checking on the web, all of the download sites I've found have been known to push out spamware and I'm loathe to take a chance on them.

This site http://www.howtogeek.com/207692/yes-every-freeware-download-site-is-serving-crapware-heres-the-proof/

lists those places that include "crapware" (their word). I'm looking for alternate suggestions.

Help!
Thanks!
LLOYD S

I would contact Corel. They may have a way you can d/l a demo of that version and use your code to fully activate it. Even if it's not on their site they may have an old link that is still active.

Lloyd, go to the Corel.com and open your account. You will find every program that you have registered available for download. I found some of my really old programs still available, like programs from 2003. Maybe with some luck Draw X3 will be there for you.

I hope this works out for ya and good luck.

I can see what the CorelDraw site looks like but I'm not very hopeful. The version I have is "legitimate", in that I have the entire boxed set with all the manuals, disks etc. but I doubt if it was ever "registered".

It was given to me by my former employer when I retired, as CorelDraw would not be used there after I left.

The plot thickens ...
I'd still like to find a reputable download site if anyone knows of one.

Thanks for the tips!
LLOYD S

Just contacted CorelDraw. My X3 won't work on this laptop anyway (so I'm told) as it is running Windows 10.

Oh well, it was worth a shot <grin>.
Thanks all!
LLOYD S

Looks like you may have to Gimp along ..
<grin>
https://www.gimp.org/

Another decent freebie is Paint.net
These days they probably do 99% of anything Corel could do back then.

I'd never heard of Gimp before. I'll have to check them out. It may be all I need.
Thanks rharv!
LLOYD S

One thing Corel he going for it WAY back in the day was the ability to go back and forth between bitmap and vector objects on the same layer. This was in the late 80's. You could take a bitmap and Corel would turn it into a vector graphic for editing primarily of the outline. I use paint.net now and am not aware of that capability. One of my friends was an illustrator for Hallmark cards and recent user of late versions of Corel Draw for work on PCs. I will see what he currently uses. He is out of country for the next couple weeks. Send me a PM if you would like me to contact him.

I'd also recommend Paint.net.
I've used it for the last 4-5 years cleaning up and cropping photos for my (2) music CD covers/artworks and my DVD cover/artwork.
The price point is a plus.

Carry on....

Are you sure that it can't run on Win 10 in compatibility mode? I ask because I was told that MS Office 97 wouldn't run on Win 10 but I have it running perfectly. I also have Corel PhotoPaint 7, a Win 95 program that I was told wouldn't run on Win 10, up and running perfectly. Thus it might be worth it to have the program sent to you so you could give it a try. But as always YMMV.

Rockstar: watch for my PM
chulaivet: I'm working mainly with vectors so I'm not sure a paint program would work.

Mario: the Live Chat person I had with Corel, when I asked him point blank if X3 would run on Win10 he said no. So I won't pursue that end. I think I will try it though when I get home, as I said, I have the disks for it.

In the meantime, I'll check out gimp.

Thanks all !!
Lloyd S

If you are mainly working with vectors then I would also suggest taking a look at InkScape which is vector based (and free).


Kevin

Will one of you post a link to paint.net please. Everytime I put paint.net as a search term I keep getting links to warrenpaint.com.

Nevermind. ++ FOUND IT! ++ It helps once you find out paint.net ain't the name of the website, the website name is getpaint.net.

Kevin:

I will take a look at Inkscape. I downloaded and tried gimp but it seems geared towards working with bitmaps.

Thanks for the tip!
LLOYD S

I just wanted to comment on the point about download sites. Generally these are extremely dangerous to the health of your PC!

First, they are usually offering illegal downloads which can get you in serious trouble.

Second, even if the legality issue doesn't bother you, as you correctly pointed out, these sites (and their downloads) are riddled with SPAM.

Finally, SPAM may be the very least of your problems. Downloads like this can contain malware, viruses and even ransomware!

I have a colleague who downloaded a "free" program like this and his entire system was compromised and encrypted with a message that his data would not be released until he paid the ransom. They further threatened to publicly publish his content if he did not pay the ransom! And some of the more devious ransom infections are now offering to free your data in exchange for you infecting other people!

John:

The download that I wanted, CorelDraw X3 isn't illegal in itself, as you have to have the activation code before you can run it (unless you're interested in an illegal "hack", which I wasn't).

I agree about the download sites though, and that's why I wondered if anyone knew of a "safe" one.

On the subject of the content I was looking for, I tried Kevin's suggestion of Inkscape. It seems to be the closest I've come to CorelDraw, and I'm pretty sure I can get it to do what I need.

Thanks again to Kevin and all those who chimed in with suggestions. Much appreciated.

LLOYD S

Well, for the record, GIMP and PAINT.NET have good reputations after many years and can be downloaded from a reputable site.

Yes, Inkscape is a good one for vectors, didn't know that was a requirement Lloyd, or I'd have suggested it earlier.
I found out about it a couple years ago when I had to handle some complex SVG files in a web app. Inkscape isn't intuitive for images/photos, but for some things it's great (and it's free!).

May be boring;
We layered SVGs on PNG files and kept the SVGs resizable and spinnable on ipods/Androids, both files were then sent separately, including position data (basically XML), to a server that emailed a combined/layered image to the user, saved it and then copied to another server that handled sales leads, and the separate files/data were finally copied over to another corporate server .. app distributed through Apple (for androids we made a downloadable installer).
Apple Apps .. what a pain for developers.
In contrast once I put the (free) ImageMagick library on the main server, it took about 8 lines of code to handle all the graphics work!

To add to the freebie list;
PhotoFiltre (free fast basic image editor that will run from a thumb drive, meaning no real install needed) and FastStone Image Resizer.
Weak point with PhotoFiltre is transparency and layers. But it's fast for basic stuff.

FastStone does batch conversions with high quality and lots of options.

http://www.photofiltre-studio.com/pf7-en.htm
http://www.faststone.org/FSResizerDetail.htm

Thanks rharv!