As a tool, analysis software has its place given that a powerful computer can look at several million games and show you where better moves might have been. The problem is that they may evaluate a good versus better move by a small variance, usually several tenths of a pawn. Also, if the engine shows a line that is not your playing style, you likely will not understand the why behind it, let alone use it. Post Mortem game study with either your opponent or a strong player might told better results. If however you do have good positional understanding, they are really good to use, especially if you play in tournaments. Be sure though not to use them in online games as this is considered cheating and can get you banned from sites. Many sites have detection software to determine if a player is using computer assistance.
Game analysis while playing
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The trouble with analyzing games is that I don't ever do it. Even when I really wanted to analyze a game, the urge passes after the game.
So, recently, I tried the idea of hooking up a computer to the chessboard while playing OTB (using an e-board). I figure the computer can able to tell me the location/position of blunders/mistakes, and I might recognize the position in the future.
I've only tried it on 2 games so far, seems a bit tedious and not yielding as much analysis results as I had hoped for.
Anybody tried this? Did you find it useful? Suggestions?