A short guide to freebies on the Net

 FREE ? - This becomes an important question when you sit staring in front of you at a brand new computer which you paid over Rs. 50,000.00 for and barely know how to turn on. You begin wondering why you did it. Well, freebies on the Net is a good reason.

Forget all that philosophical mumbo jumbo about how the Net will make us all smarter and the world a utopia. What can I get for nothing, that's what I want to know!

Here is the first thing to do. Get on the Net and go to Yahoo! Type in the keyword "free" and hit return. Click the item titled "Entertainment: Miscellaneous: Free Stuff" to bring up a list of Web sites of free things. Bookmark it.

Copy the Web address and go to URL-Minder or one of the other tracking sites and register it. After that you will automatically be informed via email every time something changes on that list. The URL-Minder site itself has links to other free Net services. If you don't understand what I'm saying or don't know how to do it email me and ask, I'll explain. Remember that we are talking FREE stuff here. Not only do you want to find freebies, but also you should to do it in the laziest possible way.

There are plenty of places listing free goods. Spend time exploring them, there are gobs to check out. A few examples of products and services that can be found on the Net free are: CDs, beauty supplies, books, coupons, contests, free samples and digital postcards.

Of course, computer software downloads are by far the most popular free things on the Net. A Web site in Australia called "The free software store" does a pretty good job organizing and keeping tabs on them for you.

Other freebies limited just to the Internet itself or computers are: computer supplies, email accounts, home pages, web page counters, guest book programs, JavaScript, and graphics.

There are a couple places to sign up for newsletters that send free offers directly you. One is at a Web site called "Free Lunch" and another at Free-Net.com. The later also has a categorized list of over 500 free things on the Net on the same page.

Well, that should give you a pretty good start.A final word of caution… Remember always, you get what you pay for. Keep it in mind as you are out there zipping around signing up for free goodies and downloading software. If you do you will be pleasantly surprised by the rich variety of wonderful goods and services there are mixed in with the snake oil and garbage. Happy Surfing!