Entering "Free Stuff" in Alta Vista will yield a colossal 521,442 results. Over half a million web pages! Here are some guidelines to sift wheat from chaff.

1) Beware of programs written by amateurs and enthusiasts unless you particularly enjoy experimenting with your computer. If you are running a business you probably don't have time. Any program with very basic readme files or little or no support files I avoid like plague. Experience has taught me they waste time trying to work out how to use them, they jam up registry files on computer and don't uninstall properly if at all. This kind of FREE stuff can turn your computer into a mess, degrading performance of other programs. If you do want to try them out, keep a separate partition on your hard disk dedicated for that purpose.

2) Don't get side tracked with shareware. If you are prepared to pay for programs, fine, look at shareware. After a brief trial period you will often be expected to pay for full version. Personally, I don't spend time on these unless I am looking for something specific, or shareware program is particularly good.

3) Subscribe to one or two good lists to keep you informed of FREE stuff. I get these delivered to my mailbox every week, spend about two minutes looking through headings and if something really catches my eye, I investigate using criteria above. A good one is: http://www.jumbo.com

How to identify REAL bargains? If program comes from a professional, well established company you are on to a winner. A 30 second look at their web site will tell you what kind of outfit it is. If a generous help file is supplied or if regular updates are published, you know program is here to stay and it is worth investing time and energy in learning it. An example is Pegasus Mail, mentioned in top FREE programs below. I was tempted to buy Eudora Pro. I had used free Lite version and really liked it. Fortunately, just before I parted with cash, I discovered Pegasus. This program does everything Eudora Pro would do for me and it is FREE. An unbelievable bargain. It is now my default mail handler.

Take a look through this list of top FREE programs and services. There is gold here:

EMAIL HANDLER Pegasus Mail is an excellent email program. Multiple signature files, multiple filters, various identities for multiple email accounts, spell check, it is all here in one easy to use program. http://www.pmail.com

EMAIL MERGE WorldMerge sends personalized messages to mailing lists. A brief advertisement is included at foot of message when using FREE version. Unless that is a major problem for you, this program is an absolute bargain! http://www.coloradosoft.com/associate-jump.cgi?ID=2085

- They can append a small ad to each email message which is sent or received

- They can display banners

- Their sites can issue popup windows with advertisements

Why would you want to use a free email service? Probably most important reason is simply to help you with spam. You can use a web based free email account to receive messages from signups to various services. Then, you can access account only when necessary for service. This way, any spam messages will be directed to free mailbox, which you do not use very often if at all.

Another great reason to use these services is to be able to pick up your email from your browser. This is great for when you are traveling or on those occasions when you want to read your home email when at work (see "Is surfing internet safe at work?")

Each of four basic types of email services are described below, along with some examples of some of free services that are available.

Web Based Email - These services allow you to retrieve, send and manage your email from your browser. In general, services are advertising (banner) supported, although most offer an ad free paid version of some kind.

Hotmail.Com http://www.hotmail.com The first and oldest web-based email system. Good interface, reliable and reasonably fast.

Mail.Com http://www.mail.com/mailcom/login.jhtml Probably best free web-based email service available. Choose from dozens of different email domains. Very easy to use and flexible. Premium service is available at a low cost.

Startrekmail http://www.startrekmail.com/member/login.page Create your own Star Trek email address. Choose from many domains, including:

@StarTrek.com @USSEnterprise.com @Klingons.com @HesDeadJim.com @ToBoldlyGo.com @DeepSpaceNine.com

Yahoo Mail http://mail.yahoo.com/ Another popular, nice email system. Lots of features, very reliable and fast.

POP Email Services - POP email is virtually always supplied as part of services you receive from your web host and ISP. Your messages are stored on a server, and you use your email client (Outlook, Outlook Express or Eudora, for example) to send, receive and manage your messages.

E-OmniNet http://eo.yifan.net/ E-Omninet provides online services of all kinds with a single account. It includes file manager, address book, bookmarks, solar and lunar calendars plus event reminder, free POP3 email and web hosting.