| tips, tutorials & support picks |
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home and learn
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It’s such a pleasure
to come across a site like Home and
Learn. This site provides dozens of free computer tutorials on
everything from saving files and customising the Windows desktop to
beginner’s PHP and Visual Basic .NET. The tutorials come in
easy-to-digest pieces with downloadable resource files where
appropriate. The tutorials are clearly written with plenty of
screenshots and there’s even an Exam Section so you can test your
knowledge. The best thing is the site is almost entirely devoid of the advertising which seems to swamp most sites containing free material. I’m not averse to advertising on sites (I have advertising here on geekgirl’s – it’s the only way I can afford to run the site), but when the site’s content takes a back seat to the advertising, as happens on oh so many sites, things have gotten out of hand. On Home and Learn, the content is front and centre. The company makes money by selling PDF book versions of the tutorials, so if you find one course particularly interesting or helpful, you can get your own copy of the whole thing for a few bucks. |
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experts-exchange
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You’ve probably seen
links to Experts Exchange pop up high on the list of results when you do
a Google search for help with a Windows problem. If you’ve ever followed
those links, you will have found one of the best forums on the Web for
getting answers to tough technical questions.
Experts Exchange has a free membership level, although it has started to try to disguise this fact and funnel people into signing up for its Premium Services for around $US100/year or $US10/month. Even at that price, the membership is worth it. A single question answered can save you your monthly or even your yearly membership in time and frustration. But although it looks like you have to pay, you really don’t (this may change in the future). Here’s how you can sign up for a free membership:
Once you’ve joined, you’ll find a massive database of existing answers. If you can’t find what you need in that database, post your question. You’ll usually get a response very quickly, because members earn points by answering your questions first and most accurately. Those points defray the cost of membership. |
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windows xp expert zone
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Trying to master Windows XP? Microsoft has some excellent resources on its site, including regular monthly columns in the Expert Zone. Of course, because these columnists write directly for Microsoft, you won’t find critical appraisals of Windows. Nevertheless, the columns are full of excellent tips and introductions to a variety of techniques and technologies in Windows XP. |
| help
station
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One of the publications
I’ve been writing for for over a decade is Australian PC User, the top-selling consumer magazine in Australia.
PC User offers a really useful service for those in computer strife:
Help Station. Pose a question via Help Station, and one of PC User’s
experts will provide you with an answer, for free. Use the Search
facility to browse through the existing Q&As, or pose your own
question. Help Station doesn’t provide fast turnaround, but if you have a really tough problem, you should get an answer within a week or two -- far faster than if you write to a magazine searching for help. You’ll find very few problems stump the Help Station team. |
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better solutions
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Need some Microsoft Excel help? Visit Better Solutions. It provides a set of tutorials which provide a good introduction to basic Exceling, plus several more advanced articles and some useful tips for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. This site is a refreshing break from the usual advertising-plagued and aesthetically benumbed tech sites. |
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