Yes, I think SPSS makes it very difficult to handle data. Completely unnecessary. You could try StatsDirect. Very cheap software (you pay for a three year licence) and very easy to use, as it is based on a spreadsheet. In fact, it is possible to copy and paste data between Excel and StatsDirect. Also, for those who are not well-versed in statistics, there is an inexpensive book called Statistical Testing in Practice with StatsDirect, which teaches basic statistics (and some more complex stuff as well), using StatsDirect.