Get an agent. Agents are software programs that act on a person's behalf. A growing crop of so-called intelligent agents can help individuals and organizations ply the Net.
Agents also can download software, dispatch electronic mail and grab sound bites and images.
Essentially, agents can do anything a person can do on the Web. However, they can complete their jobs automatically and at any hour - even when their human masters are not on the Internet. It's not magic. . . . Zillman estimates that thousands of bots are roaming the Internet. Many of the agent programs are free to try.