According to research out this week, one third of Britons think it’s acceptable to use pirate software, and one in six admit to using illegal computer programmes at work or at home. These are the findings of Microsoft’s “Attitudes to Piracy” study of 1,000 UK consumers, which coincides with the House of Lords’ debate on the Digital Economy Bill, which covers areas such as illegal downloading.

Despite the apparent popularity of using pirated software, six out of 10 people did say that they understood that using pirated software came with a risk, as opposed to the risks associated with illegally downloading films or music from the Web. But piracy and illegal downloads can cost businesses a great deal of money. According to a recent Symantec report, during 2009 cyber attacks – such as spam emails and computer hacking – cost businesses around the world an estimated average of £1.2 million.

Although getting hold of free software from the Web might sound like fun – and may often even be legitimate – users need to be extremely careful. This is illustrated by some more stats from the survey which found that pirated software leads to:

* an introduction of a computer virus in 62 per cent of cases

* a loss of personal data in 31 per cent of cases

* the crashing of a user’s computer in 38 per cent of all cases.

At Softwareload we believe those individuals downloading or installing pirated software are potentially compromising the security of their data as well as the performance of their computer. People need to understand clearly what they’re getting into when installing software, because installing a corrupt programme could be like putting petrol in a diesel car.

Our own recent independent study of 1,000 UK consumers indicates that people are less than rigorous when buying software on the Internet.  The research found the vast majority of Britons online (79 per cent) do not research software products at online review sites or blogs before making a purchase.

Softwareload’s advice is always thoroughly research any software you install and only download from legitimate sites to avoid complications. Softwareload customers also benefit from the added security of our download guarantee, which means that even if  their computer is lost, stolen or becomes unusable, their software purchases from Softwareload can be downloaded and installed without extra cost.