I've got the exact same problem as a software developer.
You'd think that when you're offering software _without_ a rent-to-use model, _without_ any online activation, and _without_ any other invasive/malware methods tied in, you might actually get somewhere. Especially if the software does something useful like transparent Windows disk compression, and does it in a single click, and does it safely, reversibly, etc.
Unfortunately, there's a vise, and its squeezing tighter and tighter at both ends as the years go on. On the one hand, you have the disrespecting giant companies, who are offering cloud services, and want to have all end-user data on their own systems. My software is guaranteed to create at least 5 GB of free space on any PC (thanks to the minimum compression savings you get on Windows system files), and that's the exact storage capacity cloud companies offer for free; so they're not happy about this development, and do their best to bury the software and cast suspicion on it.
On the other hand, you have the disrespected users, who will categorically deny to even evaluate your software (even on virtual machines!), and simply claim that what the software is alleged to do is impossible. Hey, I don't blame them - I'm sure they've been burnt, nay raped, by tons of malware previously. But what these poor users don't even realize is that this kind of attitude is exactly what plays into the hands of the companies that are disrespecting them in the first place. These poor users will sabotage all your grass roots efforts claiming you're advertising, ban and censor you everywhere they can; in a massive - shall we say cascade cleanup - of all mentions of your product, from all the few remaining places where the giant companies actually weren't able to get to you.
So this vicious cycle continues; as the years move on, software gets worse; this eventually ends up in a scenario where the market share independent software vendor has been quashed to hair's width; and everybody is wondering "what happened" to all those freedoms we used to have, how come we need to rent now!