Name of Site: MySiteSpace
URL: www.mysitespace.com/free.asp
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Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
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Review: In the world of free services on the Internet it's important to be careful what you're getting yourself into. MySiteSpace, along with providing its regular web hosting packages, offers a free service that allows users access to a good solid 20mb of web space, 1Gb of data transfers, a free guestbook, Web-based file manager and page builder, instant activation and best of all, your address will be "yourname.mysitespace.com" meaning you escape the usual absurdly long URLs so common to free hosting. The catch? A text link at the bottom of your pages and a pop-under ad when visitors exit your page. Not too intrusive, compared to some of the garbage we have to contend with. A great way to launch your new manifesto. - SS
Name of Site: 1stHostWeb
URL: www.1stHostweb.com
Load Time: Normal
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
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Review: Although what 1stHostWeb offers is technically a free service, there is a small catch... you need to pay for a domain name. If you were planning on having your own domain name anyway and don't mind paying what is a reasonable (but certainly not the cheapest) rate, then the benefits of using 1sthostweb are many, including no annoying banners or ads, 25Mb of space, 1Gb of data transfers, FTP access, a Control Panel, Sub Domains, support for FrontPage Extensions, PHP, Perl, Real Video, VRML, Java, Python, TLC, C/C++ applications, MySQL, unlimited email addresses, a shopping cart and a host of other features - and I just signed up with my $50 a month host for another 12 months - Damn it! - SS
Name of Site: Free-Webhosts
URL: www.free-webhosts.com
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
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Review: If you type "Free Hosting" into a search engine you are likely to be smothered - and not necessarily by anything worthwhile. So what you'll need is a good map and a guide. That's where Free-Webhosts.com steps in. With a directory of over 900 free web hosts, categorized up according to features and with reviews and user ratings for most of them, you're sure to find what you need. The site also features discussion forums - where you can chat to other users - informative articles, extra tools and resources for webmasters. So whatever your reason for justifying the fact that your boundless creativity deserves to be broadcast to the world as a public service, this is the right place to start out. - SS
Name of Site: Fairmount Web Hosting
URL: www.fairmount.nu
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
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Review: Of all the free web hosting companies I've ever come across, Fairmount is easily the most interesting. Before I tell you why, let's look at the features you get: You get to use your own domain name or a Fairmont sub domain, 100Mb of space, 2Gb of bandwidth, 5 mailboxes, 5 MySQL databases, FTP access, FrontPage 2002 support, CGI, Perl, PHP, SSI, nightly backups, customizable error pages, Control panel and a whole lot more. For all of this, there are no ads, no banners, no extra features, nothing. So what's the catch? You have to compete with other applicants, all judged on various criteria like design, originality, creativity and content. There are literally thousands of applicants and applications take 48 hours to process. If you really feel that your website will be judged worthy of such a gratuity, why not give them a try? - SS
Name of Site: Hot Dockets
URL: www.hotdockets.com.au
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: If you've ever been to Coles, Woollies or any other major supermarket, you've no doubt seen those "Shop-a-Docket" offers on the back of your receipts. Well, no longer do you need to go and buy 10 packs of chewing gum in succession in order to get that Black Stump "buy one get one free" meal deal. By logging on to the Hot Dockets website you can simply enter your location into the search criteria and get access to all the deals in your area which you can then print off and use at participating shops. It's that easy, and not one tree was harmed in the making of this site. - SS
Name of Site: iFree
URL: www.ifree.com.au
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
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Review: One of the problems with websites that give you everything for free is that typically you need to reside in the US to cash in the offers. Now I don't know about you, but living in a country with a spuriously elected president, where your average waist size is 15cm bigger than the rest of the world and your risk of getting jailed or shot is 20 times what it is here... well it's just not worth it. Rather than miss out on all that wonderful free stuff out there, why not make use of ifree.com.au - rampant consumerism Aussie style! With everything from beauty products to magazines, email accounts to clothing, there is sure to be something you never knew you needed, right here. God bless Australia! - SS
Name of Site: Freebies Down Under
URL: aussiefreebies.freeservers.com/index.html
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Ease of Navigation: Signposted
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Review: From a web design perspective I have to say this site really ought to catch up about five years to stay hip, but what do you expect when you came here to milk them dry? When you start clicking around you will find a decent selection of promotional kits, samples, offers and catalogues, with the occasional contest to whet your freeloading appetite. The categories range from email/web storage and food through to movies and vouchers. Each link provided has a small blurb on what to expect when you click it, so you don't have to waste too much of your oh so valuable time pilfering free stuff even you don't want to bother with. Bookmark the site and check the new additions regularly and your house should be full of junk in no time. - SS
Name of Site:
URL: www.shopfree.com.au
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
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Review: The brainchild of Aussie web veteran/guru Brendan Yell, Shop Free is a serious, professional and comprehensive free stuff portal. His cred has attracted a strong team and a whole bunch of willing participants, ready to throw their wares at anyone who asks. There are about 25 categories, all well populated with things such as newsletters, software, MP3s, gift packs etc. From a consumer's point of view it is a treasure chest of wonders, from the vendors' side, it is an excellent "lead generator". Win-Win. Everybody's happy, and the guru Brendan's mastery of the web continues to reign supreme. - SS
Name of Site: Free Stuff Central
URL: www.freestuffcentral.com
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Though this site is US-based, there may still be quite a few goodies you can collect here. A mix of genuine offers, slightly dodgy-sounding schemes, like "Foreclosed Homes, No Money Down" and "Win a Million Dollars" and more reasonable nice little trinkets should satiate your desire for donating to the church of you. Come to think of it why don't you start your own free stuff site, link to these guys and all the rest of them, and share in the joy that is affiliate marketing. If you build it, they will come, just like you did. - SS
Name of Site: Free DVDs
URL: www.freedvds.com
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: This is a great concept and perfect for the Internet - a "fly-buys" scheme with DVDs as the reward payment. Once you sign up you become part of an army of shoppers spending your money at a huge range of participating stores/service providers. As you spend, your points mount up, fly-buys style, and when you have enough, you board the DVD airbus and are transported to all the magical lands of Hollywood without leaving your chair. Such a simple scheme and by the looks of it a lot of merchants are jumping on the bandwagon. What better way to build up your DVD library than doing nothing more than what you normally do - spend all your money on stuff? - SS
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