Well, you've asked a mouthful, my friend. On the surface, Softpedia is a legit repository of software apps for various platforms. they have two main badges they use - 100% safe and 100% free. Thos tagged with the 100% safe are spyware and virus free, those tagged with 100 free puprport to have no associated costs.
NOTE: These definitions are defined by Softpedia themselves, and are not subject to independent review. Their definition of spyware free may not be as complete as you want it to be.
Applications aside, the site itself has some peculiar pop ups and downloads on it, some of which have been proven to be spyware and adware themselves. Check out the discussion on the wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Softpediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftpediaThere have also been many detections of malware distribution on the site, and some accusations that the site actively distributes the stuff. Not sure if that's ever been proven.
You can get MS Project at virtually any store that sells MS products, including Future Shop and Best Buy.
You can even download a preview:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/default.aspx