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You use it and you probably love it. Without shareware and freeware, PCs would be considerably less useful, not to mention more expensive to operate. And most of these programs are every bit as solid and reliable as their store-bought, shrink-wrapped counterparts.

But some free or low-cost software available online suffers from design deficiencies that make it difficult to install or uninstall, and may cause problems with operating systems. Other software downloads may come packed with adware that bombards you with marketing pitches. For some users, this bargain stuff carries too high a price.

Perhaps because of the economic downturn, freeware (software you download and keep for free) and shareware (software you try for free and keep for a fee) appear to be growing in popularity. Websense, an Internet management software service, reports that the number of shareware download sites rose 500 percent from February 2001 to February 2002--from about 780 to 4900 sites.

At PCWorld.com, a recent informal survey of site visitors revealed that of the more than 1400 respondents, over one-third had tried out 5 to 10 downloads in the previous 12 months; another third had test-driven more than 15.

The most popular category of downloads? System utilities, cited by nearly 60 percent of those surveyed.

Half of all respondents said that at least some downloads had caused system crashes, driver overwrites, and other significant PC problems. Half of all respondents also cited problems with uninstalls.

Teacher Thomas Bailey of Kirtland, Ohio, loved Zone Labs' highly touted firewall software, ZoneAlarm 2.6--until, that is, he installed an upgrade. Then he encountered browser conflicts, system freezes, and disconnects, all of which made contacting Zone Labs by e-mail impossible. Since the company does not provide technical support via phone or fax, Bailey was stuck. "My last resort was to use the Dell Solutions documents and uninstall/reinstall my operating system," he wrote. (See a review of the most recent version of ZoneAlarm Pro.)

Despite such headaches, a majority of respondents said that when they factored in cost, ease of use, and quality, freeware and shareware still turned out to be either "about as good" as or "a better deal" than software available from major manufacturers--especially for users on a budget.

Daniel Leppington, a system administrator at Ecole Zenon Park in Zenon Park, Saskatchewan, Canada, says he uses shareware because he's on a budget. "Saving the school division [district] several thousand dollars each year would be appealing, even if there are a few turnover pains," he explained.

Or as another survey respondent succinctly put it when discussing the attractions of freeware: "Free is free; if it works, it works."