General reference: dictionaries, encyclopedia, etc. OneLook (meta search): http://www.freetune.com/most_popular_pages.htm Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com Many library tools: http://www.itools.com/research-it and http://www.libraryspot.com TechWeb TechEncyclopedia: http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia Tech glossary: http://support.microsoft.com/support/glossary The Computing Research Repository: http://xxx.lanl.gov/archive/cs/intro.html Slang/jargon lookup: http://www.sabram.com/site/slang.html Acronym Finder: http://www.acronymfinder.com Meta-reference (many tools): http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett Thesaurus: http://www.thesaurus.com FAQ Finder (may be temporarily offline): http://ps.superb.net/FAQ Grammar/syntax; Common Errors In English: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors General problem solving and troubleshooting references General Windows support info from Microsoft (all Windows versions): http://support.microsoft.com and http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/c.asp?fr=0&SD=GN&LN=EN-US Patches/downloads (Microsoft): http://corporate.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp and http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp Feature articles that lead to many other resources and sites Hardware: http://content.techweb.com/winmag/library/1998/1001/fea0045.htm Software: http://content.techweb.com/winmag/library/1998/1001/fea0045.htm Win98Bugs And Fixes: http://content.techweb.com/winmag/library/1998/1201/cov0066.htm 10 Ways To Make Win98 Run Better: http://content.techweb.com/ winmag/windows/ features/98runbetter/05.htm 10 Ways To Make WinME Run Better: http://content.techweb.com/ winmag/windows/features/ merunbetter/default.htm Hardware/software diagnostic tools and techniques: http://content.techweb.com/ winmag/library/1998/ 1001/fea0045g.htm Resolving version conflicts: http://content.techweb.com/ winmag/library/1998/ 1201/ana0010.htm Sci-tech news and info TechWeb: http://techweb.com InformationWeek: http://www.informationweek.com Slashdot: http://slashdot.org Geeknews: http://www.geeknews.net Multiple news feeds (near real time): http://www.newsnow.co.uk/ cgi/NewsNow/NewsFeed.htm? Section=Technology Wired: http://www.wired.com/news NewsBytes: http://www.newsbytes.com Silicon Valley news: http://www.siliconvalley.com EE Times: http://www.eetimes.com New Scientist (United Kingdom): http://www.newscientist.com Science News: http://www.sciencenews.org BBC Sci-Tech News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com/news/TECH_Front.asp?a Scientific American: http://www.sciam.com SciTech Daily Review: http://www.scitechdaily.com Security info and research AntiOnline: http://www.antionline.com Network Security Library: http://secinf.net Proxys-4-All: http://proxys4all.cgi.net (under redesign; may be temporarily unavailable) SANS (System Administration, Networking, and Security): http://www.sans.org/newlook/home.htm Security encyclopedia: http://www.itsecurity.com Virus info Symantec: http://securityresponse.symantec.com Hoaxes, myths, chain letters, etc. Symantec antivirus research center: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html McAfee virus hoax list: http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability: http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html Debunking online and E-mail hoaxes: http://www.kumite.com/myths The urban legends Web site: http://www.urbanlegends.com Urban Legends Reference Pages: http://www.snopes.com Datafellows Hoax Warnings: http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm Conversions Many converters (e.g. English/metric): http://www.mikesart.net/giantglossarycom/Converters_and_Calculators/all_in_one Quick and dirty language translation Babelfish: http://babelfish.altavista.com HTML validation and related tools Free online HTML validation (Australia): http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ html-check/validation-form.html Check cascading style sheets: http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/csscheck HTML analysis: http://watson.addy.com HTML validation for ease of use by disabled surfers: http://www.cast.org/bobby Meta site for World Wide Web Consortium (includes some free validation services): http://www.w3.org Browser and connection speed issues BrowserTune can help with UI issues, browser issues, connectivity and throughput issues, and lots more having to do with the Internet, the Web, intranets, general connectivity, and all the related technologies: http://browsertune.com Also, the top four reasons for browser instability are discussed here: http://content.techweb.com/winmag/library/1999/0701/ana0008.htm Other connection-speed tests: DSL Reports: http://www.dslreports.com/stest (You'll find a customized variant of the DSL Reports test at http://www.dslky.com/speedtest; it may be available when the DSL Reports servers are offline or bogged down.) Test My Speed: http://www.testmyspeed.com/howto.htm PC PitStop: http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/default.asp BandWidthPlace: http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/speedtest_add.html MSN test: http://computingcentral.msn.com/internet/speedtest.asp Toast Net: http://www.toast.net/performance Modem speed tests: http://homepage.eircom.net/~leslie/testpage.htm U.K.-based bandwidth test: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/misc/band-test Online security tests Online antivirus test: http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp DSL Reports port probe: http://www.dslreports.com/secureme Steve Gibson's Shield's Up: http://grc.com Vulnerabilities.org: http://www.vulnerabilities.org HackerWhacker: http://www.hackerwhacker.com My Security: http://www.securityspace.com/smysecure Free ibh Online NetBIOS Vulnerability Check: http://www.it-sec.de/vulchke.html General system health PC PitStop: http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp Fred's published info, tips, and tricks Search all of Fred's newer (2001+) InformationWeek columns http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/fredlanga.html Search all of Fred's older (pre-2001) InformationWeek and TechWeb columns: http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter/archives.htm Search all back issues of Fred's WinMag columns: http://content.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/backissu.htm Search all back issues of the LangaList newsletter: http://www.langa.com/search.htm Further afield If you can't find what you need among the above, you can find answers to almost anything else at http://content.techweb.com/winmag/library/1998/0701/fea0077.htm. This article contains techniques and tips for cutting through the clutter of most Web searches so you can quickly find exactly what you need, on your own.