Excellent attitude.

There are plenty of free or shareware music rippers around. I use several different programs but I think MusicMatch is considered to be a reasonable all-in-one package. Try www.musicmatch.com

There are all kinds of files on the network. Before you start downloading programs you should make sure that your virus checker is up-to-date (actually - you should do this anyway).

Until you are more confident generally, I wouldn't worry about downloading programs (games). Downloaded programs are usually not packaged as neatly as shop bought programs (they can be a bit of a challenge to install).

Best advice at the moment is to play around - You'll look for something and find something else of interest crops up - which will lead onto...

Mark