I didn't own a Windows laptop so I had to buy an inexpensive one at Best Buy to dedicate to this one thing. Got a cheap plastic HP with Bluetooth for $200 and only loaded it with with Norton Security and FORSCAN. The OBD2 scanner was $29 on Amazon.
I was initially scared to mess with it as well but that double-honk was driving me absolutely nuts. I frequently need to get out of the truck to do stuff while leaving the engine and A/C running. The double-honk makes everyone around think I'm honking at them and it's really obnoxious at 4 am when I'm loading up gear. I've had people come out of their houses or businesses to see what I'm honking at. Plus any crook around just got notified "Hey, that guy just left that Raptor running".
The only time-consuming part of the programming procedure is the first time you connect it up. It's advised to backup every programmable module so you can restore their initial state if needed. That takes a while, 30-45 minutes, because you have to click each one and go through the whole "save as" process. But after that, it really does only take a minute or two to hook it up and make a change. It's faster than going through the menus on the regular "settings" screen.
