First time poster-online software (long)

Greetings,

My name is Jeffrey and this will constitute my first post. I would like to first articulate how much I appreciate this site and the contributions of so many insightful poker enthusiasts. Now the issue I'm interested in is online poker software. I realize I can no longer pretend online software isn't an essential component of winning online poker after reading numerous threads and doing the free limited Pokertracker trial.

I have read the horror stories at Party Poker in reference to the use of 'data mining' programs. I profess no expertise and almost complete ignorance on this subject but wish to greatly expand my knowledge. Hence, I'm trying to gather as much information as possible on all online poker software programs that have any uility.

Given that I'm just getting started with online software, which programs do you recommend I try/purchase. Are there any good free/trial programs? I am looking for programs that wil help me with statistics (while playing if this is permissible) as well as hand analysis (my own and others).

I currently only play at Pokertars. I had an extremely nice 2 month winning streak that came to a crushing halt when I started losing and compounded my problems by playing 'negative progression.' I basically moved up in my limits trying to quickly recover and went from about 1k ahead to 500 dollars down (in a week). I know, online software doesn't help with emotional stability.

Any help is appreciated,

Jeffrey