I tried to get the free bitcoins. It said the bitcoins were on it's way. But it's been more than 5-10 min and still no bitcoins in my balance. How long should it take?
If you have finished downloading the "block chain" (the history of previous transactions) then you'll get your bitcoins right away.If you haven't finished that initial download (if the "blocks" number at the bottom of Bitcoin is less than 65-thousand-something), then you'll get your free bitcoins as soon as you download the block containing that 5-bitcoin transaction.