Newbie concerns

Hi,
I've only had my MacBookPro for a year and I have never upgraded an operating system before on any computer. Usually I would only get the newest operating system when I got a new computer.
I have heard horror stories about people losing programs when doing changes to the operating system. Am I going to have to reinstall my programs after upgrading to Snow Leopard? I have Adobe CS3 products as well as a few downloaded games.
I'm nervous about this.

giwiens,
You should have nothing to worry about. For every single post on this board reporting problems, there are literally thousands of users that have had none. You don't see those posts because... they have had no problems.
If you do not have a full Time Machine backup, now is the time to make one. I would strongly recommend against any update or upgrade unless and until you have that backup in place. With a backup, there's no risk of losing anything, especially with a Time Machine backup.
Now, you won't need to resort to that backup unless something goes wrong with your upgrade to Snow Leopard. We're going to assume that everything works for you the way it did for me, and for countless others.
Snow Leopard will not remove any of the third-party applications you have now, unless those are specific (and very limited) applications known to be entirely incompatible. These will not be removed, but will be placed in an "Incompatible Software" folder. It is unlikely that you will encounter this. Those that are left in place where they are currently will not need to be reinstalled. I did not have to reinstall any third-party apps. None.
Make your backup, then upgrade to Snow Leopard. And quit worrying
Scott

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