Power Users need information. These are the best places to get that information:
Hardware and Drivers : Software: Menu:
Figuring what to buy, how much to spend, and when you to buy are all
big questions. More importantly, after you buy, how to do you optimize your
components for speed and compatibilty. The following pages are excellent
sources for those pieces of information.
My favorite is:
Tom's page is the best. He has information on almost
all computer components. His information on motherboards,
overclocking, bioses, processors, etc. is all Grade A. He
provides huge surveys, and presents the information
customized to your liking. The page takes a long time to load,
but for once its really worth it.
Interested in 3D, for games or CAD
This page is full of reviews, press releases, and all kinds
of information on 3D accelerators and games. This page is great
because the 3D market is changing every day, and the author keeps
actually keeps it up to date. It is updated at least daily. The only
negative is that it is portrayed as a complete source of information,
and sometimes the page misses products or concepts. The design is
nice, and the frames help keep it quick.
Finally
This site has drivers, bios upgrades, and information about
every type of hardware out there. If the company has a web site, there is
a link to it from here. There is even a free program that tells you what
version of your drivers you are running. The only weakness is that the
site is dependant onmanufacturers for most of its content.
Software is just as important as hardware.
Making the latest and greatest programs work with your
computer, and paying for them all is a double trial.
To keep expenses down there are two really great shareware sites:
is a slick source for Win95 shareware, patches, drivers, and
installation advice. The interface is modeled after the Win95 shell,
making it very intuitive, and easy to use. There are excellent site maps
as well. The big drawback, it crawls. The complex graphics combined
with the heavy use make the page take forever to load. I used to visit this
page every day, now I go once a month.
Another good site is Shareware.com. They are basically a search engine linked
to all the major shareware FTP sites. This site has all shareware, as soon as it comes
out. The search engine is excellent. The major drawback, the site inconsistencey. The
accuracy of information presented, and speed that information comes at varies
with the different FTP sites.
Finally, if you are having problems with commercial apps:
There is a good chance its a Microsoft product, so check out
there excellent knowledge base. Linked to support files, and updated
daily, it is a major resource. Of course it only help is your problem is
with a Microsoft product.
Easy way to go to any of these w/o actually leaving my home!!!
