Ares Galaxy is a popular and easy to use peer-to-peer application with a user friendly interface where you simply search for content you wish to download and double click the files to begin downloading once they appear. Ares was previously operating on the Gnutella network but now uses its own decentralized supernode/leaf network which developers claim has faster download times and produces more rapid and efficient search results. Ares also comes with a chat feature where users can communicate with each other over thousands of channels and also supports audio and video playback.

Ares was released in 2002 as freeware and open source and six months after first public release it switched from the Gnutella network to its own network to make it more difficult to be identified like other P2P programs and gain access to restricted networks. This increased its popularity and developers made significant changes to keep it ahead of its competitors, such as BitTorrent support in version 1.9.3 and support for two peers to share data behind a firewall. The ShoutCast internet radio feature was added in v1.9.5 with minor changes to UI also. Ares 2.0.x saw some major updates with the additions of chat room taskbar button and web/homepage label in control panel; what improved Ares