The Internet, millions of computers linked to cables that run back and forth across the world in a high-speed, all-encompassing web, has become a commonplace household reality. With the Internet at your fingertips, you can gain instant access to volumes of information, as well as reviews and opinions on almost anything you can think of. Sound, music, pictures, and other media are also available online. But where can you find these things for free on the Internet? For those of you who have crashed on the information superhighway, help is on the way.

If you are looking for free software on the Internet, there are two ways to go about it. You can download "Shareware", which is retail software that is free for trial for a limited time, or "Freeware", which is completely free software. Two excellent sites to search for helpful shareware and freeware are ShareWare.com and Download.com. Each of these are run by CNET, an online computer information site, that also runs articles about other technology, free of charge to any online user.

For those of you who are not content with free software for your computer, I recommend TheFreeSite.com. With links for "Fun, Family, Games, Graphics, Internet Access, Business, Samples, And MORE", this site is your one-stop shop for using the Internet to get free stuff.

I'll bet some people are still saying, "Wait, can't I use the Internet to get free stuff in the real world?" For these people, I recommend DialPad.com. Offering free long distance calls to any phone in the United States, it is an effective and easy way to cut those phone costs down to size. If you have a microphone and speakers, you can make free calls from the Internet. On a 56k modem, it is about the quality of a cell phone call, but at the high speed connection that college offers, it sounds exactly like you were talking on the phone.