Buying Ripple but where and how?

Coming from a non IT background I wish I had more understanding of this. Am new to Steem, so hopefully I have posted this in the right place.

I remember seeing bitcoin appear for about £12 a few years ago, and was even gifted a bitcoin which I promptly lost. I remember thinking it might be useful to have a few bitcoin just to see how it worked. I probably would have spent the coins but if I had bought 10 BC I would be in a very different zone. I fully understand the idea hat BC and crypto might be a bubble, by previous economic standards, but somehow something tells me this might be different, because the currencies are so radically different - long term they are I think here to stay, short of an asteroid strike, nuclear war, or other Infrastructure killers.

So along comes Ripple and looks like you get a lot of Ripple for your money which would rocket sky high if it takes off, and no regrets for not taking the plunge. Sadly you can’t easily buy it anywhere and the wallets all seem to be command prompt based. Scary stuff if you are new to crypto.

I wonder are there any accessible guides on buying selling and storing Ripple. If not are there any accessible guides for newbies that provide reliable information about software to use, things to consider etc just to get started.

What software do you guys use? Where do you buy your crypto currencies?

Are there any crypto syndicates one can join?

How do you protect yourself against scams and theft?