I can tell you that MCSPX is not "fixed" as there's been no new version for several years. If you're among the lucky ones where it doesn't crash - great. If you're among the ones where it does crash I'm at this point fairly sure you either going to have to live with it or find another IDE.

I've just built myself a new computer, running Windows10, it's going to be interesting to see if it continues to act up.

I don't quite understand what you mean regarding the pricing. Are you saying that you think it's expensive in general or are you saying that the price is different than on some other site? Where does it say £76.40?
Buying directly from MeLabs is $119.95+VAT which puts in the same ballpark figuring 20-25% VAT.

If you want free you can always use the Student edition, 9 supported PICs 12F, 16F and 18F families. Or you can look at the free version of Proton which supports 19 different PICs.

/Henrik.