SamyGO

I'm new to SammyGo, so I apologize is this is a stupid question. I found SammyGo because I was looking for the best way to add smart tv functionality to my LN40C500F3F. I could go out and buy a device that gives me Netflix and HBO go and apps like that, but I work in IT so I like to play around more than that.

My question is, will SammyGo provide that on my tv? I looked around and couldn't really tell. I'm sure I'll have to add a wifi adapter to it, which is fine by me, but will it allow me to run apps like Netflix and HBO Go? The TV is not a smart tv.

No, the smart tv functionality has to be integrated into the tvs firmware which is not the case for the C5xx. in theory it could be done with a lot of efford but as there is a new series of samy tvs almost every year and C is already far behind it would probably never happen.
what you can do is enabling dlna/upnp access via your wifi dongle.

see this wiki page for the list of components it should give you an idea of what samygo can do for you