Thepiratebay.org is a public file tracking site which tracks BitTorrent files.  BitTorrent is a way of distributing large amount of data, files at much cheaper and faster rate. Thepiratebay is a Swedish website and was launched in 2003. The website is mainly funded by advertisements which appear on the torrent listing page. It has 25 million users currently and they may be the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker, for which it has applied for Guinness book of World Records. It has had its share of controversies and lawsuits, but thepiratebay.org has emerged stronger every time.

Features

Bittorrent is a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing protocol. It allows distribution of files between computers without a central server. BitTorrent was a revolution; it let the users transfer files at a much faster rate than any previous software. Anyone can search and download bittorrent files at thepiratebay.org website. The downloading is facilitated by bittorrent tracker. A BitTorrent breaks down files into small files. Since they can send large files, without any central server, it has become a popular way of distribution of movies, music and computer games. For uploading and posting comments you need to be a registered member.

Torrent search engine searcher scans for torrent files and use Open Tracker as their tracking software. Baywords is a feature by thepiratebay.org for their users where they can start a blog. This free blog service is free for all users but the page has some advertisements to cover their costs. They have Bayimg which is a free image hosting site. The user can upload in 40 different formats and maximum limit set is 100 MB.

Slopbox is a temporary mailbox and it can be used by users who do not want to reveal their identity by giving their real mail addresses. Within twenty four hours the mail is deleted from the inbox.

The browse function takes you to the broad categories like audio, video, games and movies. Under these broad heads they have specifics like music, sound clips, audio books in the audio category; movies, TV shows, music clips under the Video head; PC, Mac, Wii under games and e books, comics under the Others head.

Tips and tricks

Two years ago, thepiratebay.org was raided and their IP addresses were seized. Thus, while uploading any copyrighted content you have to be cautious as your IP address is displayed after your login page. The site has torrents which has movies that do not play, is full of viruses. Run a virus scan on those files which you have downloaded. Always read the comments offered by the site just to be sure if it is safe or virus infected. Though porn is not among one of the categories at the site, it is deftly hidden somewhere. So just be little vigilant.

Newbie friendly rating

Their devil-may-care stance and not so clean image has not dented their popularity a bit. Their users are expanding day by day. One must say that the site is humorous. The site gets a newbie rating of 7 out of 10.

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.

Headquartered in California, USA, McAfee, Inc. is a company dealing with everything related to computer security. Founded in the late 80s, the company gets its name from its founder, John McAfee. www.mcafee.com is the official website of the company. The website offers a neat interface for computer users. Irrespective of the number of computers or the size of the computer network you handle, you can buy the right kind of anti-virus or other security software through the McAfee website. The website categorizes its software based on the consumers’ needs. Thus, there are separate tabs for home and home office set-up, small business, medium business, and large enterprises, making it convenient for potential customers.

Features

The website’s best features are the sections dedicated to support and information. Need help and Support offer customers answers to their queries about security software in general and McAfee in particular. Sections like Threat Center and Security Insights help to inform customers about computer security. The Security Insights section gives netizens an access to a repository of security-related articles as well as a blog. The blog features several posts containing expert opinions. You can subscribe to regular feeds to the blog. A Security Insights Newsletter is also an important feature of the blog. The website is all set to not only sell but also educate people on computer security methods and concerns.

Each category of products, based on the customer’s needs, when accessed leads to a new page with a slightly different interface. The products on offer are explained in detail in terms of its features, benefits and system requirements, thus making it easy for consumers to make a decision.

Tips and Tricks

Each category represented by image and text on the website opens up a new page. The Contact Us link on this page is customized for the category. Thus, if you have chosen the Home and Home Office category, clicking on the Contact Us link on the page of the category will fetch you more relevant information. However, the same categories when accessed through the tabs on the top of the website will lead to pages different from the ones accessed through the image and text sections.

The best way to view the website is to customize it by choosing the country of your residence. Not only will the contact information will be local but the products on offer will also be available in your current location. The default location of the website is United States.

The Threat Center section provides information on all the latest malware and virus doing the rounds of the computer and internet world. The section also provides tips to avoid spams. There is also information on categories of spam and the common subject lines indicating spam.

Newbie Friendly Rating

A newbie may initially be dazzled by the website’s interface. Images, marquees, and splash may be too much for a newbie to handle. A little time looking around the website will make the newbie comfortable. With clear categorization of customers and their needs, the website will prove friendlier than it initially appears to be. Given its sections and the information it provides, this website deserves a rating of 8 out of 10.

Download-provider.com is a virtual warehouse of downloadable movies, music, games, television shows and software. The site is not free. The site claims that memberships typically cost about $30, although special promotional offers allow a user access for $5. The site updates everyday and a quick look at the homepage shows that all the latest movies in theaters today are available for immediate download. Download speeds are excellent, with the homepage claiming a robust 978 Kb/sec.

Features

Just about anything from the world of entertainment is available on Download-provider.com. The files selected come straight from the site’s server ensuring the user an accurate download and nothing malignant like a virus.

The homepage displays the most popular downloads currently being used on the site. Downloading is as simple as a mouse click. The products are featured in their own box with a download button at the bottom of each box.

The “other” section contains downloadable products like books and magazines, adult content, ebooks and anime.

As content goes, Download-provider is unsurpassed. The site provides almost every downloadable product imaginable. A test download of a movie was completed quickly and the video quality was excellent. In short, it was a excellent experience for a newcomer to the site.

Tips & Tricks

Use the keyword search at the top of the homepage for a quick look at a specific topic. This is especially helpful if you’re looking for a song by a band but you don’t know the title or all the movies that feature your favorite actor.

The site provides an excellent user support feature on the left side of the homepage. From that, users can direct any question to a member of the site’s technical team.

A great way to get acquainted to the site is to use the “free tour” feature at the top left of the homepage. The tour takes the new user through each section of the site including how to register, download and even search for a particular product.

Newbie Friendly Rating

Download-provider.com is easy to use. The only negative is that the site is heavy on graphic content and you are flooded with covers to popular movies and television shows. That can be a bit distracting, especially when you are new to the site. Nevertheless, the site is about downloading material and, in that, it has no peers. Take advantage of the tour to quickly become acquainted with the components of the site and you will enjoy a smooth experience. Overall, we give Download-provider.com a Newbie Friendly Rating of 8.

Zedge.net is a virtual warehouse of cell phone ringtones, games, videos, wallpapers and themes. The company refers to themselves as the “coolest mobile community site ever.” Zedge.net takes phone personalization to another level with fantastic downloads guaranteed to please everyone that tries the site. Currently, the site offers 2.5 million downloads for mobile customers.

Features

Zedge.net is relatively easy to navigate and downloads are easy to implement. Almost all the products on the site are free except for certain “send to phone” features.

Zedge allows users to create their own customized ringtones, wallpaper and mobile themes using their original “Zedge tools.” Users may also upload their own ringtones and wallpaper for others to use on the site. A navigation bar at the top of the page provides a quick link to all downloads on the site as well as the creation software and the user community pages. With a glance, you can view profiles of the top-ranked Zedge users and learn about their favorite downloads on the site.

The homepage has an easily visible “get ringtone” button that takes you to the specified download. Downloading times are relatively quick and the quality of the wallpaper and ringtones is good, if not spectacular.

Once you’re on the homepage, users should look for the cell phone icon at the top right of the homepage and register their cellular device. Once you’ve completed this process, the icon with your phone name will appear on the homepage and downloading will become much easier. Zedge delivers download capability to all phones, regardless of brand.

Tips & Tricks

If you’re looking for a specific ringtone, be sure to utilize the search bar at the top of the homepage. You can enter the song name, band name or a simple keyword to search the ringtone database.

If you are looking for an especially social experience at Zedge, make sure to register a profile on the site. Once you’ve done this, you can browse other profiles and become virtual friends with fellow “Zedgers.”

Newbie Friendly Rating

The site is easy to follow and downloads of all the fun products are easy to complete. A drawback to the site is the annoying pop-up messages you’ll receive as soon as you register your phone. The “messages” are actually elaborate pop-up ads and are quite annoying. Since the site is free, there is nothing you can do other than to tolerate them. Zedge.net is a mixed bag. It provides some excellent free content, but it’s not an especially friendly site for the new user, or any user for that matter. We give Zedge.net a Newbie Friendly Rating of 5.

Filehippo.com is an online software download site where you can find various free and paid software and tools for your needs.  There are very many software and tools available at File Hippo for download, which will be of immense use one way or another.  The best part of using Filehippo is that it actually filters out many of the software which has spyware, adware, popups and other malware and has only uploaded quality and clean software to download for our needs.  The software or tools available here are updated regularly and hence you get the option of downloading all the latest version of the respective software and tools without needing to wander around different sites to find them.  The main advantage of Filehippo.com is that you get to download all the software and tools at one place rather than searching them everywhere.

Features:

The best feature of Filehippo is that you get the option of finding the latest updated software or tool on their home page itself and hence you can immediately get update to them easily in a click of a button.  This is applicable for all the software and tools available for download at File Hippo.  There is also another added and exclusive feature available here and that is the most popular downloads section.  Here they have segregated all the top downloaded and most popular software.  Thus for those who are finding it hard to choose the right software on various categories can get to choose and download the popular ones.  Unlike other popular software download sites or portals, this site has a very easy to navigate and use option where almost all the categories and the popular software are put up for download on their home page and thus saving us time from searching them.

Tips & Tricks:

One very useful feature that is available here is the update checker software.  You can download this software for free on your PC and this will automatically scan all the software and tools available in your PC and give you a report of all those software which are outdated, so that you update them to the latest version.  While some sites offer this option for a charge, File Hippo offers it for free, so you can make use of it and get yourself updated to all the latest software and their respective versions at a click of a button.  One other trick or option you can find here is that you can find even the old versions available on each and every software tool that you download.  This would be useful if you did not like or could not use the latest version of a particular software.  One trick you can use for faster download is to use the alternative or mirror sites to download your softwares faster as sometimes the regular server for downloads would be too busy making it harder for you to download.  You can also subscribe to their site through RSS and get yourself updated on any new software or latest version released.

Newbie Friendly Rating:

Filehippo, apart from minor hiccup of slower downloads, can be given a rating of 7 out of 10.