Don't upgrade your software unless there's a strong reason to do so.

If you have a favourite program that's working fine, and see that there's a new version just out, it's a great temptation to upgrade to the latest version. But this can be a big mistake.

Often a new version may be rewritten to take advantage of new operating systems, with little to offer in the way of any other real benefits. That's fine if you have a new OS, but can be disastrous if you don't. A program written originally for Windows 95/98 may be upgraded to later versions tailored to WinME, 2000, and even NT. But if you're still with Win 95 or 98, the new version may only be larger, more complex, and therefore more likely to get you into trouble.

I suspect also that new versions may be written predominantly to defeat cracks that become freely available for earlier versions.

Even the addition of promising new options may not work well on your particular system.

So check carefully what real tangible benefits the upgrade offers. Don't rush out thinking that just because it's a new version, it's going to be an improvement over your old and trusty companion. You could be in for a nasty surprise. Even worse, there may sometimes be big problems when you try to revert back to your previous version.

Newer is not always better.

I'm not advocating never upgrading. We'd still be living in caves if that were so. I'm just saying: "Be careful".

Don Penlington