Free and easy?

It's not a question of philosophy, "Intellectual property should be available to intellectuals" etc, but a pragmatic matter - I'd prefer not to spend money on software which is likely to get out of date (ie regularly needs a costly upgrade or replacement) when there's a potential rolling supply of "best of breed" freeware applications available from people and "organisations" who have not yet become jaded or bankrupt.

alt.comp.freeware is the obvious place to look for up to date information on relevant applications, usually with "independent" assessments of their relative worth and effectiveness, although there seems to be an element of paranoia creeping in. On the other hand, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that someone is not out to get you!

If you're lazy - like me - you might want to avoid trawling through the occasional (and usually justified) self-promotion and squabbling, and if so you can always cut to the chase and go straight to Pricelessware which sums up the opinions expressed in that news group, albeit slightly out of date, and gives usually current links to sites where the software can be obtained, as long as the malware distributors (and their lawyers in some cases) haven't forced them elsewhere.

I've tried quite a few of the options available in an attempt to keep my home system clean, and I intend to post up in the near future what I've found useful from a relatively non-expert point of view. Watch this space . . .