I'm currently using SpiceWorks to administer my network. I've heard much about Zabbix and would like to use it, but I'm a Windows guy and don't know much about Linux/Unix. Is there a free Windows software that matches or surpasses Zabbix?
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I'm a Windows guy as well, and the only Linux machines I have are our Zabbix machines (of which we have a few).
If you're interested in getting your feet wet in Linux (it's really no more than a paddle pool, I promise), Zabbix is a great way to do so, because if you use Ubuntu Server, everything comes in neat packages that you install, very similar to how you'd expect to get it done on Windows, and once it's been set up, you can mostly leave the console alone and interact with it via a web interface.
To be fair though, I've dabbled in FreeBSD for around 10 years. Nothing serious, but enough to know the basic commands to get around, so although I don't really know how to run and administer Linux, I do know the basics
The pay version is PRTG. I am using Cacti and I'm moderately happy with it but the install was a pain.
We are using Zabbix server and it work like a champ.
We don't even have to log on our zabbix once we had it finished configured. Once service is installed and its up and running you can customize it via web-interface.
I don't think there is a solution for Windows that will be as customizable, upgradeable and scalable like linux solution. Alot of option for linux, cacti, zabbix, nagios and alot more.
You might check Splunk that can be installed on Windows and linux. I tried it and it also work well, but I didn't like interface. There is a free and paid solution depending on the amount of data you check-in your database.
You should not really worry about linux, its pretty simple nowadays.
Linux's installation are now pretty straigth forward, easier than Windows Xp. You will also find alot of installation guides or how-to for zabbix or almost any plugin you might want for linux.