Introduction
Launched in 2005 by Alex Lunkov and Sergey Chudnovsky, 4shared is a free file sharing website. The users can upload, store and download photos, music, zip files, e-books, files and videos. It is a very user friendly site. For a start up company, it is doing very well and getting popular across the globe.
Features
The users can register and become a member at this site. One can share the files with members and the non members as well. File sharing limit is set at 5 GB per account and 100 MB for a single file. That means if your file is bigger than 100 Mb, then you will need to break it up. By using their multi load feature, users can upload any number of files in one click. User can either opt for a free plan or their paid plans which are Silver, Gold, Platinum and SBE solution.
When you click on the share button there are many options to choose from; like if you click public files then users can see your files; view sub folders allows users to have a look at any sub folders if present in the file;, public search allows users to download file. By clicking on the create folder tab user can create folders in your account. The thumbnail tab shows the files in thumbnail mode to the users. User can upload the file to the folder if upload files has been checked. Password protected folders ensure more security. In that case users access the file through an e mail link. 4shared uploader is a desktop tool that can handle the process of uploading without you going on the 4shared page.
If later you feel to go for paid plans you can update your plan. There is an ‘upgrade tab’ on your account page. By upgrading to silver, gold, platinum or SBE solution you can enjoy more features. For speeding up the file transfers, you can use FlashGet, ReGet, and GetRight softwares. While downloading files if there is any interruption, then the downloading can resume later from where it was left. If you are a paid member, there will be no advertisements in your account. These members can also use web grab feature to upload file from the web. These plans start from 48$ and go up to 500$ for one year.
4shared forums are a community to talk about movies, music, books, games and all.
By becoming a 4shared affiliate program member, you can earn money also.
Tips and tricks
Be careful about your personal information on public platform like the forums. Have a copy of the important data with you as you can not blindly depend on online storage. Anything can happen their servers can crash and suddenly they may go out of business.
Newbie friendly rating
It is a simple and easy site as the interface is similar to windows. Among the sites allowing free file storage facility, 4shared.com is highly recommended. Therefore it gets a newbie ranking of 8 on 10.