Question: Should I try free or cheap software? Is this software legal?
The Internet abounds with free software and cheap software offerings for Quicken, Microsoft Money and other personal finance software packages. Are these free or cheap software offers for real?
Answer: Be very careful with offers for free software or cheap software to use to manage your personal finances, or free or cheap software of any type. Read the details before submitting your email address or any other personal information to obtain the free or cheap software. You can usually find the fine print with a link to offer details at the bottom of the free software offer web page.
Although there are some good free software titles for financial management, it is unlikely that financial software you see for retail sale can truly be obtained for free. Banks and other financial institutions sometimes give away free software in a promotion, and if you qualify, you will find legitmate free tax software from the IRS Free File program. Most offers for free or cheap software end with one or more of these results:
- Your email address or other personal information is harvested for future promotions.
- You complete the order screen only to find extreme shipping costs.
- You find that you've purchase OEM software.
- You bought an illegal pirated copy of software and have broken the law.
- You bought counterfeit software which looks like the software you want but is incomplete or contains malicious programming which is illegal, destroys your data and causes system problems.
- You bought software stolen from a retail establishment or warehouse.
None of this is worth the cost savings. While the top-selling financial software packages can be pricey, keep in mind that you have options to the high-priced financial software packages which may meet your needs.
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