I like Scid. There are some good things about ChessBase, but not worth the money, in my opinion. And I have purchased ChessBase the program four different times over the years, so I do know a little about it. Scid is a free download, so for someone who is not even sure they need a database I thinks it's a good place to start. Nothing stopping you from purchasing ChessBase at any later time, like when it is on sale.

I annotated @prousitkeen's response in light of the Scid option.

proustiskeen wrote yesterday at 16:34:17:

I'm just a class level patzer (1770ish peak USCF rating), who has left and returned to chess several times over the years. I used to own an old version of Fritz 20ish years ago, but that was at least two computers ago, and I'm not sure if I have the install disk around here any more. Plus, my current computer doesn't even have a CD-ROM drive.

Now that I'm getting back into the game, I'm wondering what software I should get. I'm on Windows 11. I already have the ChessPad freeware to be able to play out moves and set up positions, but that's literally all it is - a chess board on the computer.

The main thing I want is to be able to analyze my own games via engine, or occasionally plug a position in and let the engine analyze it. Chess.com has its own engine that can analyze my games that I played on that site, but I'm looking to analyze games played OTB, or possibly positions/games from books that I'm reading. It doesn't have to be the latest and greatest - as I said, I'm just a class level player trying to learn and improve, not looking for help challenging grandmasters. Anything cheap and easy (free would be nice) will do.

Also, any other recommendations for software installs of other types that I should consider? Should I consider a real database program, or will the free databases all over the internet be good enough for my purposes?