Freenet is a large-scale peer-to-peer network application which pools the power of member PCs around the world to make a massive virtual information store, much like a global hard drive. The network is built first and foremost with anonymity in mind. Communications by the nodes are encrypted and are "routed-through" other nodes to make it more difficult to determine who is requesting the information and what its content is. Users contribute to the network by giving bandwidth and a portion of their hard drive for storing files. Unlike other peer-to-peer file sharing networks, this does not let the user control what is stored in the data store. Instead, files are kept or deleted depending on how popular they are, with the least popular being discarded to make way for newer or more popular content. Files in the data store are encrypted to reduce the likelihood of prosecution by persons wishing to censor Freenet content. If you have a firewall or a NAT box click here for some info. Freenet contains NO spyware or adware , its Free Software! When you first start Freenet your node will know very little about the network, meaning that it could take several minutes or longer to retrieve a web page. Please be patient since Freenet will learn how to find information more effectively over time and its speed will gradually improve with use.