@faramount,
Free will is a largely redundant concept in my opinion. It just simply isn't true that we can act "freely" whenever we choose to; our actions are shaped by many factors, social, biological, and psychological factors. Given these factors it means that its not possible to "do whatever you like"; instead we do what these factors, and probably more besides, make possible for us to do.
However, to say that we are totally determined by these factors is also not entirely true. There are certain factors we can overcome, and its possible to increase our freedom, or our ability to make "free choices", and in the process act in accord with ourselves rather than in accord with say, fear.