Shareware applications are, more often than not, small programs that perform one function. They're also more likely, and willing, to be able to answer your questions as they'll have a closer working knowledge of the product. In addition to shareware there's freeware and open-source software. Freeware, as the name suggests, doesn't cost anything to use and has no restrictions on use or the features that are available to you. Most commonly found in the Linux community, open-source software is often distributed as source code.
Users are then able to improve or extend the code and share the results, so everyone can benefit.
To help you understand the difference between the various types of licence agreements that are availabe we've included an explanation on page 116. We also discuss what the future may hold for shareware. Microsoft has incorporated features into Windows 2000 and ME that automatically replace Registry files it believes might have been removed accidentally and this could affect the installation of some shareware programs, which make changes to the registry. We've included some useful file utilities, alternative email clients, backup software and some games. We've also included a guide to the hundreds of shareware download sites on the Internet on page 113.