In commercial environments, and, to an increasing extent in some institutions in academia, subscription fees will need to be paid in order to allow to access resources. It is essential that you understand that your research is important, and that the price of computational resources is low compared to the potential loss of valuable information. The individual researcher is affected only indirectly. Be careful if you use local area networks for software installation - if in doubt, ask your local network administrator for details on licensing. Do not install software over the network if you are not sure whether you are authorised to do so.
Software piracy is punishable by law.
If you download software from the Internet, make sure that no implications on your local environment might result. Specifically, check for viruses and other malicious code. Try the existing ones first before complaining. If you cannot get an account on a system where molecular biology and other software is installed, you are in a less favourable position, because you will have to organise everything yourself. See below for details of the desktop setup with respect to potential pitfalls and prerequisites.