Part of the difference in our perspectives is that I don't think I should need to do any low-level manipulation to get software working the way that I want. It'

Part of the difference in our perspectives is that I don't think I should need to do any low-level manipulation to get software working the way that I want. It's easier to keep my computer doing what I want it to by altogether avoiding software that wants to claim ownership of the hardware. I don't have control over what kinds of garbage someone else puts into their program, but I have control over whether or not I run that on my computer. Technically I have the ability to view memory, run it in a debugger, put in shim libraries to capture data, etc, but in most cases where control is a real issue, it's easier to just avoid the troublesome software in favor of an alternative.