Cheap tools are cheap tools and not worth it, wrench or radio.
More problems are caused by windoze then anything else, but a cheap dongle is not worth the packaging it comes in.
SDR comes in two parts, the hardware and the software.
Both can be good, or bad. Some hardware is almost free, and most software IS free.
Since there may be 25 radios and 10 or 15 programs, not all mix and match so well.
Like anything else, if you do not know much about windoze/computers its risky to muck around in the guts.
I would never think about using an 8 bit direct sample dongle, even if it had any front end filters.
Downconverted radios can work well, as can 14 bit name brand radios like the SDR-IQ.
Since the computer is half the radio, a slow old laptop running an old version OS may give a
very poor result.
I have always had a computer that ONLY DOES THE RADIO.
No updates, no internet connection in normal use, no other programs running, I look at it
as part of the radio hardware.
Also, any USB sdr will have about 400 ms delay (latency) through the USB system in a computer.
That may or not be important.