You can give yourself SO much grief picking the wrong software, and then assuming that everything else is as bad. What do you expect from free software? If it WAS any good, do you think there would be ANY commercial programs?

Try this first, before you give up. CubaseLE. Cheap, does everything you need, upgrade path later on for when you have the basics down and want to grow...

And finally, if all this computer stuff makes you nervous, if you are about to buy your first... think Different. Think a Mac. No viruses, no Trojans, no spyware, no pop-ups. No problems. If you are doing it all yourself (no close friend who is a guru, obviously, from your questions here ), a Mac spares you the horrors of Vista or WinXP (PC gurus, don't flame me...! This guy is NOT a guru. Would you give a Vista PC to your grandmother, and let her run it all by herself?!).

Everything just WORKS. You pay a bit more for that. What's that worth to you?