Thursday, May 13, 2010

Be Sure To Err On The Side Of Caution With Movie Downloading

By Graciela Flores

There are hundreds of internet advertisements promising free movie downloads of any film ever made - from A to Z - at just one click of a link. And there are times when a person can find something on the internet for their children, and something for themselves to watch later - and get them both for free. However, it's wise to be extra cautious these days - especially when wandering the internet in search of "free" goodies such as movie downloads. So keep the following in mind while attempting to find your favorite films for nothing, and maybe your internet home theater vacation won't become an online adventure from hell:

Make sure what they're offering is really at no-cost to you: Know the word "free" is used in many contexts in order to lure customers into buying things like movie memberships. A fact that's often concealed until someone has already spent hours searching online before finding a promising site, only to be faced with a mind-numbing membership form that's really a sign-up commitment in disguise. He will get a FREE trial membership - but those few days will cost him three months in advance. At this point, the mentally exhausted person hits "delete" in frustration and gives up, or has to start over.

To prevent this from happening, search the internet with key words like "totally free movie downloads". This should bring up any sites that are really offering free movies and free membership sign-up. This will save you a considerable amount of time, and annoyance, in wading through deceptive advertisements.

Expect the unexpected to trip you up - Sometimes the most frustrating part isn't finding a website that makes good on its "free" promises, but in locating an actual live download link that will give you the movie you've selected, once you're there. Broken links, offers for paid membership upgrades, and page unavailability are just some of the snafus you may come across when trying to access your free film.

Always know what operating system your computer uses - Sometimes you'll be asked to pick from a choice of several links - depending on what OS your computer uses. And if it uses one type of system and you pick the link for another, your computer won't be able to read the download, you won't get to watch your movie - and your system could be at risk from corrupted data.

Use a flash drive to download from any internet site - As you know, you run a risk of picking up a computer virus every time you go online. And if you don't have a program that checks and cleans your system continually, you may be at high risk for attack, or worse.

It's smart to make it a practice of saving anything from the internet to a portable flash drive - especially things like movies - and then scanning it for any errors before opening it up on your computer. If you don't have access to one of these drives, then save the file to a folder on your computer's hard drive, making sure to scan it before attempting to view the contents.

When you find those sites offering free movie downloads, be aware that they don't always mean "free" in the literal sense. Many an internet surfer has jumped to accept something they thought would cost them nothing, only to find out that they'd be paying for it in more ways than one, somewhere down the road.

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