Shareware good&Bad

For those of you new to the world of computing, having just paid real money for your computer and a method of connecting to the Internet 'Free' is appealing.

There are some great free things in this world:

1. Life

2. Nature

3. Software

From your experience of 1 and 2 you know 3 must have a considerable number of potential hazards and pitfalls, don't you?

You do don't you...

Considering how many people ask me to help with computer problems caused by free software you would think people genuinely believe the Internet is different to any other place you get given things for free.  They think someone else has developed the software out of the good of their heart for the benefit of others and fulfilling their own high altruistic ambitions...

Well in some cases this is exactly what has happened.

Some excellent examples are:

The Linux operating system

Open Office - office suite - www.openoffice.org

Mozilla Thunderbird - excellent email and spam filter www.mozilla.org

Mozilla Firefox - excellent Internet browser www.mozilla.org

The GIMP - excellent graphic editor www.gimp.org

To name but a few.

However in the world of free software this represents less than 20% so what is not so excellent about the others:

1. Trojan Horses - You pretty much always get software you did not ask for with the download

2. SPAM - Often the sole purpose of the free software is to gain access to your address book - you did read the small print didn't you?

3. Hackers - it is a great way to gain access to everything you have access too - yes I did say everything.

The only way to avoid it is:

1. Only use recommended software

2. Only download or source it from a reputable source

3. Keep and eye out for anything out of the ordinary happening on your PC - the most likely cause is that free software you are trying out

What do you do if you already have it:

Take your PC to someone trustworthy and have them remove the offending software and put on software with a good reputation - plus you may wish to help others by posting a message on the Internet about what you found happened.

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