If you are downloading cracked versions of software or pirated music from torrents, be careful. You might be installing adware and spyware with the cracked/patched software.
Recently while going through the webmaster forums, I have noticed a black hat method to make money from torrents, binding pay-per-install software with the cracked software or pirated music files. There are companies who pay the webmasters and site owners for installing their software, typically 10 cents to a dollar. These are called pay per install and may contain adware and/or spyware, which shows obtrusive ads or tracks the user’s browsing behavior.
So, do not forget to scan the software downloaded through torrents before installing. Use AVG anti-virus free edition, which has inbuilt anti-spyware.
These days, open source moment is caught up and there are a bunch of good applications available. These are free software and continuously developed by a huge community. You can also suggest features that, you think, make the software more useful.
I have already dumped Internet Explorer for Firefox, MS Office for OpenOffice, and SnagIt for Photoscape. I will review more free applications whenever I get free time, so subscribe to my feeds and get all my posts delivered directly into your Inbox.
It was interesting. You seem very knowledgeable in your field.