Are online survey offers to pay in any way legitimate?

In general, if an offer asks you to spend money up front in order to qualify to make money, its a scam. There are exceptions, of course - at least, I'm sure there must be, though I've never encountered any.

What about spam or viruses?

I searched "free stuff" on google and took some surveys for "free stuff" I filled out a bunch of stuff and surveys and a bunch of stuff showed up in the mail with bills connected with them.

I kept all the stuff and threw the bills away. It was true all the stuff was free. Of course they will try to collect on the "free stuff" but my assets are fully protected from the law.

Internet "Surveys" and "Contests" trail only Peer2Peer file sharing, porn, and gambling as vectors for yuckware infestation.

You ain't lyin buddy. Free, my ass! Everyday I have to clear my E-mail and i'm getting all kinds of **** in the mail. I already gave all the crap they gave me away, it was junk.

amigo is a real genius. A real conman. Boy I beat the system that time.

Are online survey offers to pay in any way legitimate?
I think by using the phrase you've answered your own question.

ccb, & anyone else interested, you can save your money. i'm signed up with 2 online surveys that are legitimate. harris interactive is one. all you get from them are email invitations for surveys, and no software needs to be installed. you collect points for each survey you complete, and once you accumulate enough points. you trade them in for gifts. the catch is, you need to do a lot of surveys just to get a $5 gift certificate.

the other one i do, keynote, *will* install software that records all your mouse clicks while you evaluate a web site for them by completing all the tasks it asks you to do. somebody then analyzes your responses, and if they decide you made a legitimate effort to complete each task, you get a gift certificate in the neighborhood of $25. catch here is, before you do an evaluation, you have to answer around 3 questions, and about half the time, you'll be told that you don't fit the target demographic. also, the invitations are infrequent, not even once a month.

you should be able to google each outfit, and they both allow you to register to become panelists. if you can't find 'em, i can PM the addresses to you.

Unfortunately, but realistically, about the surest, safest way to generate money with a 'puter is to sell the puppy.