Softonic is completely safe for kids if parents just monitor the activity of their children. The site is real but they have ads on the side and pop-ups so it could not be the most suitable for children. For security purposes, guide the children to the site (as most importantly, they still need to be safe) and download software from authorized Websites only. Parental controls and antivirus applications are also serving as additional protection. So I think kids can learn about the site, how it works, and more but they should not use the site without their parent's permission.
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https://radarro.com/is-softonic-safe/