Free Software!
Let me start off by saying that there is a lot of free software available for just about every popular operating system that works well, is well written, and straight forward to use.
Let me also point out that a lot of free software is free because is simply couldn’t be sold — yes it’s that bad (of course there is a lot of commercial software that is on the market that shouldn’t be sold; but that’s another rant).
I have a favorite saying:
You rarely get what you pay for.
And with free software that could be taken to mean, it almost always ends up costing you…
I always recommend that you read up on software before you use it; and try to read comments written by someone with similar computer skills and goals as you have. Then ask yourself the simple questions “do you need the software” and ”do you have something that already does the same thing that works”.
If you just want to play with a piece of software, consider using a virtual machine to try it out and then discard the changes; and I always try out a piece of software in a virtual machine even if I’m fairly sure it’s something I want.
I maintain a list of products (free and for pay) on my web site that I consider worth using…
It’s rare that I have any problems with any of my computers — and that’s mainly because I don’t “junk” them up with lots of software I never will use and don’t need… and keep in mind — COMPUTER PROBLEMS are one of the costs of installing software.
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