CONCLUSION AND FINAL REMARKS

Nothing in life is guaranteed and 100% safe or free. We oftentimes heard the words of wisdom expressed NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE or IF IT IS FREE, THERE IS ALWAYS A CATCH, even IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT NORMALLY IS…

This clearly shows that we are quite skeptical of anything that lands on our desks, mailbox, online labeled as ‘FREE’. To say the least, we rarely believe or expect it to be actually FREE. We look for the snag right away. It is almost second nature. The internet is to a large extent underlining some of these perceptions, breaking new ground in others, where information sharing is in fact now FREE. Others expect you to pay for things that used to be free and so the cycle and spiral goes, round and round, deeper and deeper.

In and throughout this guide we opted to focus on INTERNET FREEBIES that offer value, incentive and reward. There are numerous ways to make money on the internet and things to look out for. We tried to highlight as many as we can to help you take full advantage of the benefits, mitigate the risk and enjoy what they have to offer.

The range and scope of internet freebies are wide and broadening daily. The human innovation and capacity for new ideas fuel the fire. The internet is the enabling technology that allows us to connect with our collective global fellow human-beings and ‘sharing’ internet freebies is just one new way that we connect and transact as human beings.

It offers the chance to connect, communicate FOR FREE. The internet provides a variety of NO CHARGE items that can enrich and empower your life, yours for the downloading and taking FREE, AT NO COST.

Faxes, live chats, blogs, audio and video downloads, global communication and exchange on a massive scale … and YES some of it is offered FREE. Many try it and increased supply and demand fuel these initiatives and endeavors that quickly grow huge followings and draw massive crowds of supporters and advocates. It is the new global platform and those that are smartenough to tap into it, will not be left behind.

The internet is opportunistic, immediate and provides instant gratification, on demand. It is in pace with our fast-paced lives and now brings us some of the products, services and information FOR FREE. We do not have to pay excessive amounts for things that used to be so expensive just a couple of years ago! Things change and move pretty quickly in this online market as well. Here today, maybe gone in seconds, or by tomorrow. It is dynamic, aggressive and not for the faint of heart. Yet, it also EASY TO USE and the risks can be managed if you make it a priority to be a hands-on, informed and empowered consumer.

We will always have wants, needs and desires, the internet peeks and keeps our curiosity. It provides the vehicle to search and find things we never imagines possible a little over a couple of decades ago. FREE offerings are useful marketing tools suppliers and service providers use to secure our interest, business and loyalty for life. Teasers and incentives, hooks and invites, they all qualify and all are fair game in this online hunt for internet freebies!

Pleasure you can not measure or have to pay for, that is the promise and potential of Internet Freebies. They are GREAT (when real) and we all look forward to getting them. Soon, we find out that ringing true to earlier statement FREE sometimes does come with a price tag and some risks.

Inherent, embedded, unintentional, malicious, deliberate or just for fun, some internet freebies contain viruses for your computer, spyware and the like. Hidden agendas and shipping costs or false claims and misrepresentation are all abuses in this realm of offerings to look out for.

If you keep on trying and scrutinizing you will find something of value and to your liking offered for FREE, sooner or later. Persistence and determined effort will pay off. There are so many promises of FREE things and making money off the internet, getting your hands on something valuable for no upfront investment, is irresistible to the majority of us. We really trust this guide provided you with valuable insights, points and reminders to keep in minds as you set our on your own journey and hunt for online Internet freebies.

Some Food for thought on FREE ‘STUFF’, seen from a bit of a philosophical, tongue in cheekcommentary of sorts, offered FREE OF CHARGE!!

PEER TO PEER FILESHARING TIPS

Peer to peer networks are called this because it is basically the way the files are gotten in the first place. How this works is that any file that is executable on your computer can be shared with other people’s computers. The most popular forms of p2p networks is those that offer music and movies.

File sharing can be dangerous as you can imagine, Below you'll get a variety of safe file sharing tips that are designed to help protect you if you choose to use a peer to peer file sharing network. However just to let you know again that the only way to guarantee 100% safe downloading online is by using a legal or small payment site.

Note: Legal music download sites have come a long way over the years and have succeeded at giving people excellent download quality, cheap music solutions and improved music selections to choose from. Most also give you a free music trial for trying them out.

Of course since no one knows exactly what the RIAA will sue next, the file sharing tips offered below do not guarantee that you will have a safe file sharing and do not guarantee becoming a target of the Recording Industry yourself someday. They are provided for you as useful tips and suggestions only because in the end when using a p2p file sharing application online you just never know.

Here are some safe P2P file sharing tips and useful suggestions:


1) Watch your music file size.

Basically the RIAA sued people who shared at least 1,000 songs or more. As a safety measure, and to be sure you less likely to be a target, either keep your music collection fairly small or move your music files to a non-shared folder so that they are harder to track.

After you download music, simply move the files out of the folder you designated as your shared music folder to like media player or something like that. This is not a fool-proof solution, but could be helpful in avoiding becoming a target of the RIAA.


2) Use file sharing privacy protection features.

The RIAA has mainly sued file swappers who made their own files available to others for download. Basically the music companies target users who only download music, many file sharing networks (like kazaa lite) have features that allow you to turn off the file sharing option.

However you should know that in using the file sharing privacy protection features you should be safe but doing this will not provide complete protection from the RIAA.


3) Learn all you can about a P2P file sharing program first.

Check out the file sharing site thoroughly to try to get important details and information from them such as;

1. How does the P2P site operate
2. Is the file program free of adware, spyware, trojans, etc.
3. Do they provide customer service
4. Do they offer legal P2P advice and prevention tips.
5. If you can't get your questions and concerns answered from the website, you should email them and ask.

Needless to say, if you choose to use a p2p file sharing program, I would strongly recommend that you read the site's entire security and privacy section. The file sharing networks have suggestions & tips on how to stay safe while downloading files online.

4) Know the risks involved with file sharing beforehand.

Due to the huge pile of people downloading Trojans and other malware from p2p networks, reports estimate that virus attacks, disruptive worms and security threats will just keep going. If you have ever downloaded freeware or shareware before then the odds of having adware and spyware on your PC is extremely likely.

When you are downloading files online from unknown places to you, it's extremely important that you keep your virus-checking software up-to-date. Using Norton and mcafee is a great way to start. Just note that many of these programs don’t work with firewalls.


5) Check out privacy protection software.

It's a well known fact that technology evolves as the designers needs do. And many p2p file sharers use safe sharing software programs designed to help protect their online identity by keeping their IP addresses and surfing habits anonymous.

However, even privacy protection software can’t assure you total anonymity online. Controversy about copyright infringement laws continues to surround the use of P2P file sharing online. Of course, if you are really worried, just don’t do it.

PEER TO PEER NETWORKS

When it comes to peer to peer networks, it is the most popular way for most of us to get free music, movies and software. These are not like the freebies that I mentioned before. These methods are basically illegal ways of getting the most popular and recent of any of these things.

You can get movies that haven’t even hit DVDs yet. Of course if you get caught you will be in trouble. Some people find that the trouble is worth it. I don’t but you never know. For all of the illegal peer to peer networks there are, you can find a legal one too. Some of the most popular peer to peer free network programs are:

- Gnutella
- eDonkey
- Morpheus
- Kazaa
- LimeWire
- Xolox
- Shareza

Of course there are legal ones too. These often require a small payment per CD or song/movie/and software. These are free because they have the permission from the companies that they receive the songs from. Some have special deal with these companies to advertise their new things. Some of them give you free downloads with the purchase of the new ones. Some of the paid sites are:
- iTunes
- Songclassics
- New Napster
- Coolcds
- Cdplanet
- MTV


As cool as it sounds to get and use free file sharing programs like those mentioned above, you should know that there are some dangers to using them as well as wonderful downloads. Here is a short list of some of the dangers involved in using p2p networks for freebies:

- Some downloads aren’t what they say they are
- There is x-rated stuff to be found in them as well, and they are often listed as normal stuff
- Files may be of poor quality
- Files may contain spyware/adware
- Files may contain viruses or worms
- Files may not be complete
- Some force you to share files as well which is how many people get caught
- Some require payment over time
- Files may be corrupted or duplicate
- Files may not open on their own as they should

WHEN FREEBIES ARE ILLEGAL

Illegal internet freebies is what is generally referred
generally referred to as piracy. Piracy is a huge problem all over the Internet. It cost the software industry alone about $12 billion last year. Here are the different categories of piracy going on today that takes money directly out of the hands of the owners and creators.

Some of these things include: software piracy of programs and PC games, digital music in the MP3 format of full albums or singles, full length movies of movies playing in theatres and movies released on DVD and VHS, old video games that now play as ROMs on software as well as console games that must be burned to a CD to play on the new console, and all the cracks going around that stop free trial periods.

The first of the above categories that was first to be pirated was the software of programs and PC games. This is was available because of Software cracks which have definitely played a big role in this, because in order to use the software a user can just have a key generated by the crack so they can avoid paying the programmers who created the software by adding the crack that tells the programmer that it was paid for.

There are many search engines out there that allow people to search for cracks in the many databases. This was common back in the time when CD’s weren’t as popular and when programs and games were simple enough and small enough to fit on a floppy disk.

Now however the CD is very common and software and games have become complicated enough to take up as much as 650MB on a CD. Crack hacks have found a way around the CD protection and because of this we now have isos. They are the exact extracted programs that were on the CD but are now compressed and on your hard drive instead.

The 600MB worth of files then has to be burned to a CD and will usually need another crack before it will be able to work. You probably won’t find isos in the public Internet like other freebies as no one wants to get caught. You’ll have to search newsgroups and BBSs or link in to the underground FTP if you want to trade to get them.

It’s a common thing for people’s entire software and game collection to be nothing other than burned copies these days. It’s a tempting thing that’s hard to resist, especially when you look at the price tags that accompany them. A friend can burn an iso to a CD for $5 whereas the companies out there will charge hundreds for theirs.

The rest of the categories for piracy are things like music, movies and console games have only experienced widespread Internet piracy in the past three years or so. With computer processing speeds getting faster and faster, hard drive capacities are growing and Internet bandwidth speed growing; movies, music and console games have been there.

Nowadays, you can get a movie that is currently playing in theatres and have it burned to a CD and be watched in a CD-ROM or DVD player for no cost other than that of the price of the cd you are burning the movie onto. You can also get computer software and play most any game for the N64 system or any of the older systems like the Super Nintendo, playstation and Xbox.

If you’d rather be current and up to date you can get Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 2 or Sega Dreamcast games burned very easily. These games are big and have to be burned to a CD for you to be able to play it on your new console. In the case of the Sony PlayStation, there is some extra hardware needed for you to play your pirated games, in the form of internal or external mod chips, which just goes to show you that they are smart enough to capitalize off of you.

It would be hard to find movies and console games in the public Internet, however there are various programs now that do the searching for you. The piracy and distribution of music is a different story altogether. The MP3 is a compressed version of a WAV file that you’d find on your music CD.

With its small size and good quality, the creation of the MP3 12 or 15 years ago has made music the most pirated thing on the Internet nowadays. Unlike movies and games, you can find MP3 music almost everywhere. There are web sites with 100’s of full albums that you can access simply with a banner click.

It’s a big network of people sharing music and has sparked the most controversy and these are called peer to peer networks. High profile musicians like Metallica and Dr. Dre have publicly launched lawsuits against Napster for distributing their music. That is okay because there are many others who are replacing napster anyways and they are far better.

Besides the collecting aspect, people have most enjoyed MP3’s for burning to mix CD’s. especially since today’s equipment ables MP3 players, car MP3 hard drives, stereo top MP3 players, and CD players that decodes MP3s while they play off of a burned CD.

Piracy over the Internet is almost impossible to stop. One reason is because there are no Internet laws that can be upheld, with privacy issues coming into play. Web sites that distribute pirated software, games, music and movies can be found and shut down but charges may never be laid which will just garner the web owners fines etc.

Pirated music, movies or games is just plain illegal and they are freebies that are extremely sought after. Some websites offer you free items like these legally because they get them from the companies so that the companies can get free advertising for their newer things.

Programs that hunt these pirated things down include Kazzaa, Morpheus, and Warez. They all offer free software, games and music illegally. If this sounds okay to you go ahead, but remember that you really are stealing and so are they!

10) If you want legal music you have to pay for it.

This may be true for most current popular artists, but thee are tens of thousands of free music selections out there that are indeed free. Before you spend all your money on iTunes, you should check out free music resources first.

9) There is no harm in requesting a free offer often.

I hate to say it, but thereare many people who think this way. Most offers either come right out and say or imply that you may only make one request per person or household for a reason. Being greedy and requesting multiples is considered fraud and my land you in legal trouble.

8) Free software is not as good as purchased ones.

That may have been true at one time, but we are in a new era where open source and other free software has gained much more respect and are fully featured. For example, I use the OpenOffice.org suite in my home office exclusively. Why pay Microsoft, when I can get the same functionality and often less bugs for free?