How to Find People Without Paying a Cent

Whether you're trying to find a high school sweetheart, an old friend or a coworker, today's technology makes it much easier to locate someone in a relatively short amount of time. Search engines and other free tools allow individuals to search for people using full names, locations or places of employment, among other information. There are plenty of tools available. The next time you remember someone from your past, consider looking him up, free of charge.

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  Start by doing an obituary search. It sounds a bit extreme, but it's best to figure out whether or not the person you're searching for is alive before you set out on a wild goose chase. Check out local newspapers or do an obituary search online. The United States government's official web search is a handy tool and doesn't cost a dime. Type in "Death Record" followed by the state that you'd like to search.

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  Complete a basic search engine search. Just type in the full name of the person you're searching for in a free search engine such as Google or Bing, followed by additional information such as previous location, birth date, hobbies and even the high school she attended. When you're searching for a common name such as "John Smith," it is important that you add extra details in order to narrow down the search.

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  Do a free online people search. Most people searches require you to register and pay a fee, but fortunately a few, such as ZabaSearch and Pipl, are free. These searches provide details about the person you're searching for, including his use of websites, blogs and social networking sites.

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  Search social networking sites. The odds that the person you're searching for has a social networking site profile are very good. You may manually search through various social networking sites using built-in search tools, or you can kill 10 birds with one stone by using a free social networking search such as YoName or Wink. These websites search dozens of social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Friendster.

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  Complete a free public records search. If you know that the person you're looking for has been involved in a court case, you could search criminal, civil and traffic records in order to find out more information about the person and the trial. The name and birth date of the person you're searching for are all you really need and sometimes just the full name will suffice. Simply complete a web search starting with the county followed by "clerk of courts." On the site, locate "Public Records Search" and enter the required information.

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  Do a prison inmate search if the person you're searching for is in prison. This can be done by typing in the name of the state followed by "department of corrections." Locate "Offender Search" on the website and enter the information required. Often, these websites will also list information on offenders who were recently released.