What Is Shareware?

Experiences and comments about shareware, the problems, the benefits.

I use shareware more than I use conventional software. But like regular software shareware has its problems, and can even have problems that don’t exist in conventional software.

What is shareware?

Shareware is software that you ‘Try before you buy it’. Some shareware has no price, instead the author may give it away free (freeware) or ask for a “donation” of money.

But most shareware has a price, and the free trial ends after (1) so many uses or (2) or so many days or

(3) has some features crippled or (4) some combination of 1, 2 and 3.

In addition there may be demo shareware which demonstrates some of the features of the software but demo software is not shareware unless you can add a “key” (you pay for the key) and activate the demo to a full version.

I use shareware more than I use conventional software. But like regular software shareware has its problems, and can even have problems that don’t exist in conventional software.

Who writes this stuff?

Instead of being written by some large company, most (but not all) shareware is written by folks just like you and me.

In a way thats better because they have a personal interest in pleasing you and making sure you say good things about their product.

Howoever, there are more and more large companies offering “trail” versions of their software, including such giants as Microsoft and Symantec.

How do I get shareware?

You can search on shareware using Google or other or just visit some of the online shareware sites like SoftSavers.Com , MySharewareStore, download.com and others.

Most shareware can be downloaded free but some larger programs may need to be shipped (or are more practical if shipped especially if you have a lower speed internet connection).

The version you download free normally has some restriction as noted above. When you buy it the author will send you a “key” or code to “unlock” the trial version and make it a “full version”. In some cases the author will send you or let you download the full version.

Problems with shareware:

Some shareware titles contain ads, adware, spyware and other noxious software. If you are going to use shareware you need to have on your computer working and updated: (1) antivirus (paid versions such as one of the following: Norton Antivirus, PC-Cillin, McCafee, Computer Associates, Panda work best, (2) anti adware/anti spyware/ anti worm software such as Microsoft’s free antispyware.

Other problems include the software not being fully windows compliant and causing bugs on your computers performance, the author retiring (giving up and failing to support the product), plus all the ordinary problems you can have with any software such as difficulty removing the software when you want to remove it.

Visit the shareware author’s website and see if the author states there is no adware, etc. in the software. See if the software contains proper removal tecnology (see below).

Is shareware as good as commercial software?

Some of it is, some of it is not. Thats why you have to try it before you buy it!

I could ramble on forever but I would like to have readers fill in their experiences…

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