Hurrah! I have found another reason to stay on the net and forego any attempt to get a life. Online comping - the e-equivalent of filling the coupon and sending it off, only this time you can sit down with a beer and bag of Cheesy Puffs and enter five or five hundred competitions in one go.

Of course, if you win one of the biggies you may be forced to get a life. There is something about a Porsche Boxster or a trip to St Lucia that makes life worth living. Drooling over these potential perks can drag you down into a mire of hopeful expectation. Don't fight it! I didn't, and although I have so far won zilch, the fun is enormous.

Two of the best competition portals are www.loquax.co.uk and www.theprizefinder.com. Both are independent sites with excellent links to where the competitions are. They also categorise prizes by type and by closing date, which is handy if you want to win an MG and want to win it NOW.

Through these sites, you can slobber over the pick of the prizes, or if you are organised, get down to the grind of daily entry competitions. Of the latter, www.tombola.com has a couple of jolly games with OK prizes, and Lycos' fetch has the wee Labrador digging prizes up for you. Blartly.co.uk's instant wins may satisfy those who have no powers of waiting although it seems that the same prizes have been hanging around too long to be winnable.

If you are far too intellectual for games that involve no skill whatsoever, there are plenty of competitions that can take your brain cells for a jog. Some competitions, such as those at www.holiday.beeb.com, throw 25 questions at you and the prizes are generally worth having.

If you are feeling tired and emotional, then Loquax and The Prizefinder will probably give you the answers in their weekly newsletters. And you can play for prizes at www.uk.quizpeople.com all day every day if you wish.

Some sites, such as www.myoffers.co.uk, ask you to fill in surveys or give your details to enter a particular prize draw competition. I thought initially that it would lead to Domeloads of Spam, but it hasn't. Of about 150 competitions that I have so far entered, I have received about 10 unwanted emails, and no junk snailmail.

Slogans, captions and tiebreaker competitions are less popular because of the effort involved. You might be in with a bigger chance of winning. Visit www.win-with-lynne.co.uk or www.winspiration.freeuk.com to brush up your wordsmithery.

If you would like to benefit from your own opinion then try reviewing a film or computer game on www.filmaday.co.uk or www.gameaday.co.uk. These sites seem to me to favour new reviewers, although I may be wrong!

How can you be sure of winning a prize? Steve Higson of Theprizefinder.com advises: "The best way is to enter as many competitions as possible. I know a few people who enter every single competition on our site, and they win three or four prizes a week.

If your time is limited, then to increase your chances of winning, try to enter the competitions which give away multiple prizes. In the past, websites have given away as many as 1,000 prizes in a single competition."

Winning a T-shirt or a CD may keep you going through a fallow period, but keep the big prizes in your sights. Someone has to win, and it may as well be you. But be careful out there - you may be in danger of falling prey to a dodgy site.

Jason Dale of Loquax.co.uk says "Our philosophy for competitions is the same as for online shopping - if you don't like the look of the site, don't give your details. A lot of sites are not Data Protection registered, or do not indicate they are, and ask for all sorts of information. Also some sites do not provide opt in/out boxes for mailing lists or selling on your details when they should."

Steve agrees. He says: "Compers should be very wary of any competitions which ask for credit card details or other information which they would not be happy to disclose. You should always read the terms and conditions to make sure that there are no hidden catches to entering."

So far, for me the ups outweigh the downs. My tips? If the terms of the competition are silent on "one entry per household", then enter your partner, your mum, and your guinea pig.

Enter competitions nearing their closing date so you don't have long to wait for the results. And don't let the local paper photograph you outside your house if you have won a holiday; you will be burgled while you're away.