How to Make a 360 Degree Panoramic Photo for Free on Windows

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. But this worked quickly for me. I had spent some time looking for the info, so am sharing it.

1. Take photos covering your full 360 degree scene, overlapping vertically and horizontally. Special camera not required.
2. Download AutoPano Giga (sanctioned free full version) here. Use the registration email and code on that page. When installed, if it doesn't come up when run, try renaming libeay32.dll in the program folder.
3. Follow the instructions on this page to create the panorama. (In Settings, if a section says Automatic at the top, click the box at the left to switch to Manual.)
4. My old version of Photoshop doesn't edit 360s, but it was able to fill in the sky by editing the panorama as a flat image.
5. I viewed my first try in 3D using Simple Panorama Viewer from the Microsoft store.

Then I declared success and posted this. Hope it is correct and helpful.