your net:// Put that wallet away, this is freebie heaven

By PETER SINCLAIR

It's like being a kid in the world's biggest toyshop, and the toys are free.

Where else but on the web would people beg you to take stuff for nothing and use it, copy it, and give it away to your mates?

How about WebShots, by far the most popular free desktop on the web? You'll love it.

Of course you may not have to pay but there are occasional ads. Typical of such "sponsorware" is TurboNote.

There are too many cool, customisable features to list here. But each copy of TurboNote is sponsored. You'll see a sponsor's name and logo in the About box and their web address will sometimes appear at the bottom of a note.

Similarly, a great download-manager when you are trawling the net for "freeware," RealDownload [it's part of RealNetworks' free Real Entertainment Centre], will spring a half-screen commercial window on you the second it connects. You have to decide whether the advantage outweighs the annoyance.

But lots of essential old favourites are free and unsponsored. WinZip, for compressing and decompressing files, is a perfect example. Get it, you'll need it.

And don't forget free players for the free music you will find online - WinAmp and Sonique are cool - or free messaging programmes such as AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ or Odigo.

Another class of "shareware" lets you evaluate before deciding whether it's worth buying. ClipMate, a really useful clipboard-extender; RTVReco for getting rid of surplus message-windows; Keyboard Express to automate any application or document, are examples.

And the shopping never ends at ZDNet, Tucows, CNET or locally at Yippee.

Just put that wallet away - it's the net, silly!

Links

WebShots

TurboNote

Real Download

WinZip

WinAmp

Sonique

AOL Instant Messenger

ICQ

Odigo

ClipMate

RTVReco

Keyboard Express

ZDNet

Tucows

CNET

Yipee

How to grab the goodies on offer:

1. A website will present you with a download link, and may provide instructions. If not, no problem, double-click it anyway.

2. A window will ask where you want to save the file. For convenience, browse to "Desktop" and click.

3. Make cup of tea/coffee. Ingest. Then go to desktop, click downloaded file. If an .exe (executable), it will self-install - follow simple onscreen instructions. If a "zip" file, you'll need the legendary WinZip (see main article).

4. Why not create a 'Download' directory in Explorer and save everything there? If this is still a bit beyond you, simply go to our InBox Forum [www.nzherald.co.nz/inbox] and ask!