Trial almost up, little progress made

I've been trying Plesk under a 15 day trial, and have only two days left before the end date. Though unfortunately, my experience with Plesk though mixed, leaves me feeling as though the interface is more hassle than benefit.

With that said, the main issues that I've encountered as a newcomer, are those of basic settings and functions not accessible from the interface. And perhaps more importantly, where many of the measures used to overcome these limitations are reset upon restart.

In...

Trial almost up, little progress made