Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Free Movie Downloads Can Carry Bad Viruses

By Charmaine Chan

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 free actually means "free" - No one looks forward to getting hit with the unexpected reality that "free movies" really means a free TRIAL membership they didn't want. This is especially irksome after they've spent the last hour on some endless form that supposedly gains them access to no-cost downloads. Then add in the fine print telling them they're expected to pay for three months in advance before they can get access to any movie, and that person wants to scream - to say the least.

In order to save hours of navigation through misleading advertisements, and wasting even more time on their endless forms - you might find the real thing faster by using key words like "completely free movies" in your online searches.

Expect to be delayed by something at some point - Be aware that once you find an actual free movie website, you still have to find a download link that works. You can expect to run into annoyances like being redirected to a site that costs you money, unavailable pages with error codes, and links that don't take you anywhere.

Know the basics about your operating system - When you do locate a live link to your movie download, you may then be asked to pick the one that corresponds with the operating system your computer is using. It's wise to know at least the name of your OS program, so you don't accidentally choose a download with data your computer can't read that will cause you to miss your movie - and may even crash your system.

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.

If you don't have a flash drive, or access to one, then at least save any downloads to a file folder on your computer's hard drive - and don't open it until it's been scanned for problems.

You can see that there are quite a few things to be aware of when looking for free movie downloads online. But maybe the most important thing you can remember is a lot of times getting something for nothing really means paying big in some way, somewhere down the line. - 40724

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