As an extension of my summary on file sharing the website torrentz.com is the Google of all torrent searching. This site will search the web for site which contain the torrents that you need.
If you do not know how to start off, please see my other summary about getting started.
http://www.shvoong.com/internet-and-tech nologies/file-sharing/1913820-www-thepiratebay-org/
For people who don't know know what a torrent is, it is a file which basically streams the file which you are wanting to download over the net from peoples computers who wish to share it.
This site will allow you to search big names such as thepiratebay, mininova and bittorrent. The site also allows people to add comments on the file and you can assess the quality of the file by the user verification tick. If a torrent has a green tick by it, it means that people who have downloaded it before you have confirmed it is a clean file and good quality, so if you are afraid of viruses and malware this is the best option.
There are a few useful names you will want to know,
Axxo and Klaxxon
Both of these users upload verified torrents and good quality files. You can be assured downloading from these users you will get a good quality file.
Torrentz.com does not require a membership, it acts on the same basis as Google, its totally free but searches for torrents instead of webpages. When you type in a search you will get a list of file names, there size and when they where uploaded onto the site. The basic rule is that if there is more seeders than leachers then it will be a quicker download, so it makes sense that the other ay round it is a slower download. Once you have found the file you wish to download, click on it and it will give you a list of sites which host that file, torrentz.com does not directly host the files themselves they just point you in the direction of sites that do. All you have to do know is save the file and let it on its way. A couple of hours later you will have your file (depending on download speed!)
And just for the record - I do not condone filesharing and encourage people not to do it :)