Are you looking for a person and all the information you have is a past address, past phone number, home town, or school attended? We can help with these free tips and links. Before doing any paid searches, visit those sites and first try their free searches. Most offer a way to find a person free with a a little work (and a faster browser...go to foxfire.com for faster surfing).

Here are some general steps for using the Internet to find a person free:
• Put together as much information as you can about the person you are looking for. Things like schools attended, cities lived in, ages, relatives' names, etc. To find a person free, you may have success if you simply know a past telephone number. Even if it is not current, many sites still contain the old listings with information which may be helpful in your search.

• Try looking for the lost person on sites such as past schools' web sites. Oftentimes people may still have connections at that school. Or you may try searching the many online directories like AOL to find a person free. You may be able to find them by searching for their name in some form followed by one of the large ISP's extension. Example joe_cool@aol.com

• Surely the easiest way to find a person free is to utilize one of the many sites which specialize in finding lost people. They have had a lot of success in finding people, so your time will usually be better spent working on their sites. Many times their basic service will allow one to find a person free. They will charge a nominal fee for tougher searches.

If you are unable to find a person free, shop around at the many links to the professional find-a-person sites. Read and compare their many plans. Some offer unlimited searches over a period of time, and others limit you to only one or a couple. Remember, spend some time trying to find a person free before spending any money.

If you know the city or state from where the person is from, you are way ahead of the game. Most of the pro sites will request that info first. Whether it is a free search or a pain one, it's far better to know the last known city the person was associated with.

If you try to find a person free and only have a past phone number, you may be in luck. Many of the specialty search sites have large databases of phone numbers. Some are somehow able to search unlisted numbers. Even if the number is no long in use, you may still be able to find a person free with this method since old numbers can remain in data bases for quite some time. And you may be able to find some information from that old data to help you in your search.

Remember, you are trying to find a person free. Do not be too quick to pay any search site more than $19.98. Many sites offer very valuable services for only $4.95 to $9.95 per name searched.

Most of all, make the Internet work for you. It's 99% free, so take advantage of it. You can usually find a person free no matter how long they have been missing. Whether it's an old flame, old friend, distant relative, or a roommate who skipped out on you leaving a giant phone bill, you have a very good chance of finding them on your own. Be sure to check out all the professional sites even if they appear to require payments. They often have some free basic services which are very useful.

Thanks to the Internet, you can now find a person free from the comfort of your home. You can also find information out about your neighbors, job applicants, family members, "blind" dates, and anyone else living in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

Good Luck!