I do love free. When something is free, I would like two of them.

I went looking for a computer alarm clock, to remind me of a program on tv that I do not want to miss. I found some great-sounding ones for $20 . Then, I found others that are listed as being free. I was frightened away from the free one(s) because I wonder about whether there is a hidden agenda.

Is there a way to determine whether there is some ulterior motive, virus, malware, or agenda hidden away in this free software? Obviously, I could run a virus scan, which would alert me to a virus problem. But, what if the hidden agenda is some sort of tracking software or something else more insidious?

Particularly, I was looking at Bluefive alarm clock software.