[Simon Haynes]

I tried to install it and it said I needed NET. I don't want to mess with NET again, as it caused me all sorts of grief once before.

I develop programs using dotnet, and it's fine to install. In fact, it's already included on Windows Vista and 7 (and I think it's installed with Windows XP SP3, but I may be wrong there.)

It's much more likely the program you were trying to install was at fault.