Should I use PPA’s? Are they to be trusted? Is there a list of ones to be used? Is there a list of software that come from / stored in PPA’s? What are the best ones?
Any info for this new user would be appreciated.
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I knew there was an article on its Foss about this and have found it for you. I didn’t understand what they were either until I read the article. It does fully explain everything you need to know about them. Here is the link to it Howard : https://itsfoss.com/ppa-guide/
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excellent article by @abhishek and quite the appreciated share from @ElectricDandySlider. i learned several things from reading it.
i would add that some of the ppa’s i use were suggested by sources i trust. timeshift (system backup and restore) is from a ppa and i believe i first read about it in an it’s foss article. since i had been reading it’s foss for a while, i had grown to trust the advice and information i obtained there. makemkv (dvd/bluray video converter) was one i originally found in the ubuntu mate software center. to get recent updates i switched to the ppa. i figured if the distro suggested it, it should be on the up and up. in a similar sense, handbrake (video transcoder) was one my brother who works in IT had suggested years before. the last one i use is tuxboot which is suggested for use with clonezilla (which i had used for years) and gparted.
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The mentioned article explains it enough. So the thing I might still want to add is that you categorize this under General Linux Question, so I will answer it from that perspective. Generally, no you should not use PPAs. Except, you are using Ubuntu(-based) distributions. Using PPAs on other distributions (even Debian) might lead to more or less big errors. PPAs are there to handle Ubuntu (and part of its derivatives), only. Anything outside that spectrum usually is very prone to errors, when using PPAs.
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If I ask / post in the wrong area, I will not be offended if one of the moderator move the post to the place they believe it belongs. 
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That is definitely a statement to remember for everyone on this forum.