I'm the same way, I prefer direct downloads when possible. However, softpedia somehow stays rediculously on top of their software versions (they must use their own automated method I think). Like, I rarely see softpedia be more then a day behind the author.
Also, softpedia hosts some software that isn't available online. A good example is macrium reflect, which requires a download manager to download from the official website, but softpedia hosts offline versions.
How would you suggest choosing a different option?
EDIT: figured it out, need to use a lookahead. you can choose which version for the download variable like so:
(?<=window.location='(.+?)')[^[0-9]{2,}]*?x64.+?
Sorry if that regex is ugly, I'm still stumbling around with it. "x64" matches the description in the popup title for the link you want (I could have also matched "Softpedia Secure Download (EU) - x64", but x64 will probably be the most constant).