There are millions of sites on the Web that tell you how to make the most of your computer and the Internet. I've distilled that unmanageable mishmash of resources down to 50 exemplary sites, each of which excels at making some aspect of your daily digital life easier, more comprehensible or more enjoyable.
Comprehensive computing help
CNet's Help.com
CNet's Help.com is packed
with articles, tips and info about almost all aspects of computing. Hardware,
software, Web building, games... it's all there.
Computing terminology
PC Webopedia
The Webopedia is a constantly updated dictionary of PC and Internet terms.
You can search by keyword or dig down through the categories. Most definition
pages include links to useful related resources on the Web.
Drivers and patches
Driver Headquarters
If you need a driver for any part of your computer system, chances are
you'll find it on this site. Make sure you check out the Driver Detective
program which will give you full information on all the current drivers and
their versions on your computer.
Driverguide Another excellent source for drivers. This is a great site to come when trying to track down drivers for old equipment, in particular. Free registration required.
Finding things on the Net
Google
Fast, uncluttered, accurate. Isn't this what a search engine is supposed to
be? Come to Google when you're fed up with the sloth and distractions on
so-called search 'portals'.
IXQuick
IXQuick is a 'metasearch' engine, which takes a single search string
and fetches results from search engines on the Web, Usenet, FTP sites and news wires.
ProFusion
Another metasearch engine. Feed ProFusion a single search request,
choose the search engines you want used, and it will zip out and get results
from each of those engines. Fast and attractive.
Ask Jeeves
Tired of working out how to phrase a search engine question? Just Ask
Jeeves instead. Ask Jeeves understands questions such as "Where can I find a
concise article on emeralds?". While you formulate your own question, you
can see what others are asking at the same time.
Topica
Much of the best information on the Internet is not to be found in Web
sites, but in the discussions carried on via mailing lists or newsgroups.
Topica lets you search over 70,000 mailing lists and newsgroups by keyword or
category.
Orientation
Explore new realms beyond the US and Western Europe. Orientation is the
gateway to a series of regional Web sites covering Asia, Africa, Central and
Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Oceania.
Yahoo's regional search engines
Yahoo! lets you find things on the Web by digging down through its
categorised lists of sites. It's not comprehensive, but it's still
impressive in scope. Even better, try one of the regional engines:
Sweden
UK & Ireland
Denmark
France
Germany
Italy
Norway
Spain
Asia
Australia & New Zealand
China
Hong Kong
Japan
Korea
Singapore
Taiwan
Brazil
Canada
Games guides
Adrenaline Vault
The Adrenaline Vault has reviews, previews, feature articles and
interviews. You can also get your hands on demos and other downloads, check
out cheat sheets, and join in discussions and online events.
Happy Puppy
Happy Puppy remains one of the Web's best games sites. It's stocked
with downloads, tricks, cheats, news, a newsletter, radio show – you name
it. All of this is wrapped up in a lively and responsive interface.
Gamespot
ZDNet does a nice job with its games site although you'll need to persevere
with the advertisements. Gamespot has all the latest of
everything: previews, reviews, demos, patchs, and links to developers' Web
sites.
Hardware guides
Digital Learning Center
Kodak's Digital Learning Center is a great guide to understanding
digital photography and using your digital camera. Online courses provide
in-depth instruction, and tips include things such as how to sepia tone a
digital photograph.
PC Mechanic
Reviews, overviews, techniques and tips about such things as motherboards,
memory, drives, expansion cards and power supplies. The site also includes a
good collection of links.
The PC Guide
Hardware references, tutorials, optimisation guides and more. This site
covers every aspect of hardware, from sockets to hard disk geometry. A
wonderful reference.
Tom's Hardware Guide
Tom's is an excellent technical resource for anyone who wants to tinker
with their hardware or rev up their system. There's reference material on
motherboards, chipsets, hard disks, CPUs, BIOSes and video cards, plus
benchmarks, reviews and commentary.
Industry news
CNet News
CNet's News.com is one of the very best sources of daily computer news.
As well as featuring stories by its own correspondents, CNet pulls stories
from news sources all over the globe, including Australian sources. All of it
is updated several times a day, and neatly cross-referenced.
Silicon Valley.com
The San Jose Mercury has long been a reliable provider of high-tech news.
Its Silicon Valley.com provides daily updates on personal and business
computing.
Internet guides
An Atlas of
Cyberspaces
What does the Internet look like? How are we all connected? How do you map
cyberspace? This site provides fascinating views of cybergeography.
Learn the Net
This multilingual resource features a great guide to the Net, covering
everything from its birth, to a preview of its future. Other articles look at
e-mail, newsgroups, conferencing, publishing and much more. You'll also find
a glossary and weekly updates.
Webmonkey Guides
The Webmonkey Guides are part of HotWired's stable of Internet
offerings. Well-written and up to date, the guides include the basics of
getting online and what to do once you're there. Recommended for beginners
and intermediate users.
Music
MP3.com
Whether you want to learn how to play MP3 music files, create your own, or
download some music, MP3.com is a great destination.
Live365.com
Have a hankering to have your own radio station? Here's the easiest way to
get yourself up and running as an online broadcaster, although the recent to-ing
and fro-ing over royalty payments has made it more expensive than it once was. And if all you want to
do is sit back and listen, Live365 has thousands of Internet-based radio
stations to choose from.
Operating systems
Linux.com
This slickly produced site has an introduction to Linux plus news,
articles, downloads and links. The ongoing Dave's Diary gives a great
account of downloading, preparing, installing and tweaking Red Hat Linux.
Tutorials
TutorialFind
Track down tutorials
on all sorts of topics, from technology to turnip pickling at this
well-organised site.
Programming
DevX
Whether your language of choice is Visual Basic, C++, Java, XML or SQL the
Development Exchange is worth bookmarking. This site features news, articles,
tips, resources and links for each language. You can also talk code with
fellow developers on the discussion boards.
Useit.com
Jakob Nielsen is a usability advocate who speaks incredibly good sense
about Web site design and software usability. Useit.com is essential reading
for anyone designing anything with a user interface, whether it be a site or a
program.
VBNet
The Visual Basic Developer's Resource Center is a wonderful independent
resource for VB programmers. The site has an extensive code library, an FAQ
library, articles on various aspects of VB coding, and a great set of
carefully vetted links.
Security
Microsoft Security Advisor
Microsoft Internet Explorer has been leaking like a sieve; so have Windows
95 and NT. While Microsoft is not alone in having products that have large
security holes, breaches in Microsoft software affect an enormous number of
users. If you're concerned about security, especially online, check out
Microsoft's site dedicated entirely to security issues.
Symantec Anti-Virus
Research Center
Keep up to date with the latest virus news (and hoaxes) at Symantec's
excellent Anti-Virus Research Center. The latest addition is Sarcman, a
virtual comic book designed to raise virus awareness, for which you'll need
Macromedia's Shockwave.
Shareware gems
Freshmeat
An extensive collection of shareware for the Linux operating system. Each
program is reviewed and many feature user feedback.
Download.com
CNet has the one of the largest lists of shareware and freeware available.
User ratings help you assess the popularity and worth of the software before
downloading it, and links to publishers' sites get you connected with
thousands of shareware authors
Troubleshooting
Corel Technical
Support
Corel's Technical Support site offers tips, tricks, patches and updates
for the whole range of Corel products.
HP Customer Care
Hewlett-Packard's Customer Care is one of the best support sites. As
well as drivers, a knowledgebase FAQs, and online manuals, it features an
excellent set of interactive troubleshooting guides.
IBM
IBM has revamped its site, putting links to drivers and demos on the front
page, plus a quick search engine.
Intel Support
Interactive troubleshooting, FAQs, forums, driver downloads and an
extensive section on Year 2000. If you have a Pentium III, you'll find a
selection of links and downloads that make the most of your hefty hardware.
Microsoft
Personal Online Support
Microsoft regularly revamps its online product support. The new Personal
Online Support is geared towards individual users and contains interactive
troubleshooters, a searchable knowledgebase, FAQs, support Webcasts,
newsgroups and a glossary.
PC User Help Station
Microsoft regularly revamps its online product support. The new Personal
Online Support is geared towards individual users and contains interactive
troubleshooters, a searchable knowledgebase, FAQs, support Webcasts,
newsgroups and a glossary.
PC 911
Brimming with tutorials, how-tos, tips, tricks and general computing know-how.
If you can't find the answer to your question in the existing material, post a
question in the forum.
Web site design
Glassdog
Opinionated and challenging, Lance Arthur's site includes a must-read
guide for anyone about to create or recreate a Web site. You'll find
coverage of HTML, javascript, and cascading style sheets, plus a whole lot of
advice that's well worth heeding. Or ignoring. It's up to you.
The House of Style
Western Civilisation's House of Style is a well-produced guide to using
cascading stylesheets (CSS) in your Web pages. The Handbook provides a
detailed introduction to CSS. The Tutorial steps you through creating your
first stylesheet. You'll also find the complete specifications for CSS, a
compatibility guide for the different browsers, and a link to download Style
Master, an excellent stylesheet editor.
Web site development
Builder.com
CNet's Builder.com is bursting with articles and tools for all levels of
Web developer. There's everything from Build Your First Web Site to job
search tips to advanced ASP development. An essential resource.
MSDN Online Web
Workshop
The Microsoft Developer Network Online Web Workshop provides an
extraordinary amount of information about all aspects of developing a Web
site.
Web Developers Virtual Library
This really is an impressive resource for any Web developer, stacked high
with tutorials, example code and applets, plus links to other resources.
Web Review
Web Review bills itself as 'Cross-training for Web teams'. It
certainly contains one of the most useful, up to date and well written
collections of articles on Web authoring, design, development, multimedia,
e-commerce and backends that you'll find anywhere.
Webmonkey
Billed as a 'How-to guide for Web developers', Webmonkey contains a
rich assortment of articles on Web design, programming and browser technology.
Where to go on the Web
The Webby Awards
Each year, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences awards
the Webbys to the best Web sites in dozens of categories. When you get a
hankering for sites that are new, interesting, innovative or beautifully
designed, check through past winners and nominees at the Webby site.
Yahoo Internet Life
The online version of this print magazine digs up all sorts of interesting
sites and happenings on the Web. Check out the Useful Sites archive.
