| SHAREWARE SHOPPING MALLS: | ||||
| Download.com | Everything you could possibly want to try is here! (http://www.download.com) | |||
| Happy Puppy | Huge, popular collection of downloadable games & entertainment software. (http://www.happypuppy.com) | |||
| Jumbo | Huge archive that indexes & organizes shareware files from a variety of public libraries. Browse by category, pick your operating system. (http://www.jumbo.com) | |||
| MediaBuilder | Frequently updated library of free multimedia tools: HTML authoring packages, sound editors, public domain graphics. Nifty animated banner creator lets you instantly apply more than 20 special effects to any text block. (http://www.mediabuilder.com) | |||
| Nonags | Impressive library of shareware, freeware, & demoware in just about every imaginable category. None of the software is hobbled by time bombs, registration reminders, disabled features, etc. (http://www.nonags.com) | |||
| Shareware.com | The first shareware library on the Web. One of the biggest & best places to find new software. (http://www.shareware.com) | |||
| Tucows | "The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software" -- large, well-organized, well-documented collection of Internet Utilities. (http://www.tucows.com) | |||
| SEARCH ENGINES: | ||||
| AllTheWeb | A FAST search engine. (http://www.alltheweb.com) | |||
| AltaVista | Finds lots of relevant sites for most searches. Potent search options. (http://www.altavista.com) | |||
| AOL Netfind | AOL's search engine. (http://search.aol.com) | |||
| Britannica
Internet Guide |
Great source for sites on history and the arts & sciences. (http://www.britannica.com) | |||
| Britannica Online | A powerful search engine places all 32 volumes at your disposal for a 7-day free trial period. After that, it's $5 per month. (http://www.eb.com) | |||
| Excite | Search engine finds lots of sites. Free e-mail, maps, news, shopping, & travel. (http://www.excite.com) | |||
| The favorite of many! (http://www.google.com) | ||||
| HotBot | East to use, powerful, finds lots of sites. Message board searching, news, & shareware guide. (http://www.hotbot.com) | |||
| Infoseek | One-stop shopping for Web, newsgroups, & new searches. Large directory. Maps, news, online reference works. (http://www.infoseek.go.com) | |||
| LookSmart | Fun user interface, good site reviews. Links to magazine & shopping sites. (http://www.looksmart.com) | |||
| Lycos | Easy to use, especially when refining searches. Nice selection of features. Chat, free e-mail, maps, news, shopping. (http://www.lycos.com) | |||
| WebCrawler | Decent Web directory. Maps, news. (http://www.webcrawler.com) | |||
| Yahoo | Huge, well-organized guide to what's on the Web. Easy to use. (http://www.yahoo.com) | |||
| MONSTER (META) SEARCH ENGINES: | ||||
|
www.2q.to www.cyber411.com www.dogpile.com |
www.highway61.com www.mamma.com www.metacrawler.com |
http://all4one.searchallinone.com www.searchthe.net www.surfy.com www.webtaxi.com |
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| PC HARDWARE/SOFTWARE RESELLERS: | ||||
| www.Flash-Memory-Store.com | Great place to buy USB Hard Drives 20GB to 500GB Same-Day Shipping, Lifetime Warranty, Competitive Prices! | |||
| Buy.com | They claim they have the lowest prices on the planet for hardware and software. Can't say I disagree! (http://www.buy.com) | |||
| CDW.com | Computer Discount Warehouse (http://www.cdw.com) | |||
| CompUSA | (http://www.compusa.com) | |||
| Egghead | (http://www.egghead.com) | |||
| MicroWarehouse | (http://www.warehouse.com) | |||
| PC Connection | Top notch reliability. (http://www.pcconnection.com) | |||
| PC Mall | (http://www.pcmall.com) | |||
| PC VENDORS (ONLINE/DIRECT): | ||||
| Compaq | (http://www.compaq.com) | |||
| Dell | (http://www.dell.com) | |||
| Gateway | (http://www.gateway.com) | |||
| Hewlett Packard | (http://www.hp.com) | |||
| IBM | (http://www.direct.ibm.com) | |||
| Micron | (http://www.micronpc.com) | |||
| HIGH-TECH HELP: | ||||
| DevX | Developers' headquarters (http://www.devx.com) | |||
| Drivers HeadQuarters | Drivers. Also has Driver Detective, a free, easy-to-use utility which tells you exactly what drivers you've got installed. (http://www.drivershq.com) | |||
| Microsoft Office Free Stuff | Regularly updated add-ons for MS Office: extra wizards, import filters, file viewers, as well as Office 97 Service Release 1, an update that fixes bugs & adda a few new features. Free. (http://www.microsoft.com/officefreestuff) | |||
| Microsoft's Knowledge Base | The ultimate repository of tech info, bug fixes, & tips on a huge range of software. Free. (http://support.microsoft.com/support/) | |||
| PC World Online | Everything in the print PC World, plus a software library, news, online features, & more. (http://www.pcworld.com) | |||
| WinShareware | Links to just about any vendor's website for downloading drivers. Includes contact info for each company's tech support. (http://www.winshareware.com) | |||
| WinPlanet | Windows news, tips & tutorials. (http://www.winplanet.com/winplanet) | |||
| Windows95 Annoyances | Discussion of some of the more annoying Windows 95 features. (http://www.annoyances.org/win95) | |||
| WUGNET's Shareware Hall of Fame |
Windows 95 & NT shareware & tips. (http://www.wugnet.com/shareware/index.html) | |||
| ZDnet |
Get product reviews before you
buy at ZDnet. (http://www.zdnet.com/reviews) |
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| INTERNET SERVICES: | ||||
| Anonymizer.com | Blocks information about what browser you're using, which operating system you're running, your ISP, and your geographic location from potential snoopers. The downside is that it slows down your surfing somewhat. (http://www.anonymizer.com) | |||
| Network Solutions | Check availability/owner of a domain name (http://www.netsol.com) | |||
| ART & GRAPHICS: | ||||
| Andy's Art Attack | Dozens of useful & entertaining backgrounds, bullets, buttons, and animated GIFs for use on your Web pages. Free, but give him credit for his work if you use it in your Web pages. (http://www.andyart.com) | |||
| Web Design Resource | Clip art. (http://www.pageresource.com) | |||
| WebMuseum | Put a Degas on your desktop or a Hopper on your home page. Hundreds of paintings & drawings have been digitized at the WebMuseum. Downloadable fine art grouped by artist. (http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/) | |||
| MUSIC-MUSIC-MUSIC: | ||||
| AnyCD | (http://www.anycd.com) | |||
| CDnow | Wide inventory, fast searches,
compelling promos, prices discounted slightly (http://www.cdnow.com) |
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| CD Universe | Low prices, can't return opened CDs (http://www.cduniverse.com) | |||
| Tower Records | Online store gives you one free music CD with every 5 purchased & many of its discs are discounted only on the Web. (http://www.towerrecords.com) | |||
| Tunes.com | Bountiful sound samples, prices not low (http://www.tunes.com) | |||
| BARGAIN BIN (Get better deals online than at the store): | ||||
| Amazon | Largest book store in the world. (http://www.amazon.com) | |||
| Barnes & Noble | Save 30% off most hardcover list prices and 20% off paperbacks (remember that you will incur shipping charges). (http://www.barnesandnoble.com) | |||
| Consumer World | Discounts & deals on general merchandise. (http://www.consumerworld.org) | |||
| Land's End | Online-only sales on its clothing, luggage, & home furnishings. (http://www.landsend.com) | |||
| LLBean | (http://www.llbean.com) | |||
| Supermarkets.com | Supermarket coupons (http://www.supermarkets.com) | |||
| STUFF FOR YOUR DESKTOP: | ||||
| Desktop Heaven | Provides access to volumes of wallpaper images, sound clips, & icons with themes such as sports superstars, great art, natural wonders, or cult movies. (http://www.desktopheaven.com) | |||
| Win 95 & Mac Joke Wallpaper | Humorous desktop wallpaper, start-up, & shut-down screens for Win 95 & NT. (http://www.jokewallpaper.com) | |||
| FONTS: | ||||
| Chankstore Fonts | Chank Diesel is a whacky font designer whose scribbly, handwritten fonts have shown up everywhere, including ads for McDonald's & IBM. Here, Chank gives away many of his creations. (http://www.bitstream.net/chankstore) | |||
| ITC Fonts | International Typeface Corp. (http://www.itcfonts.com) | |||
| BUSINESS & FINANCE: | ||||
| Barron's | Diligent market surveillance and the critical company information individual investors demand. Barron's Online builds on the content of the weekly print edition with highlights that include company dossiers, "Market Day" analysis, and a look at the best online brokers. Free at press time, Barron's Online is considering implementing fee based subscriptions. (http://www.barrons.com) | |||
| NewsTracker | Excite's NewsTracker is like a state-of-the-art clipping service. Enter some keywords & NewsTracker will search the Internet for corresponding news stories and continually update your personal topic page with headlines & summaries. (http://nt.excite.com) | |||
| PR Newswire | A good place to visit to see what your competitors are up to, to see if they've issued any press releases, and to find out what's happening in a particular market. (http://www.prnewswire.com) | |||
| Quote.com | Offers a surprising amount of stock quotes, histories, graphs, news headlines, and market data. (http://www.quote.com) | |||
| Universal Currency Converter | Convert U.S. dollars into Australian dollars, Japanese yen into Italian lira, and save the time it takes to scan conversion tables into a quick calculation. You also can sign up for free daily e-mail updates of the currency you want to track. (http://www.xe.net/ucc) | |||
| GOVERNMENT INFORMATION: | ||||
| Matthew Lesko's Information USA | Lesko is the eccentric, hyperactive author of Lesko's Info-Power, a huge reference book that describes freebies you can get from federal, state, & local governments. Skip his home page & go directly to the Find An Expert search-- a database of experts (real people!) in a variety of agencies. (http://www.lesko.com) | |||
| US Business Advisor | The U.S. Business Advisor provides business people with answers to questions about federal law. A great search engine lets you scour the full text of Web pages across hundreds of government sites. (http://www.business.gov) | |||
| TRIP PLANNING: | ||||
| Excite Travel | (http://www.excite.com/travel) | |||
| MapQuest | Visiting a strange new city? Visit this site & download a free map of your destination. Simply type the street address on MapQuest's form, and it generates an accurate map of the area surrounding the address. Lets you zoom in & out, display landmarks selectively, & even print out driving directions. (http://www.mapquest.com) | |||
| Microsoft Expedia | An essential stop for serious travelers. Locations from Aruba to Zaire are covered in lavish & practical detail. Expedia's Travel Agent lets you book flights and hotel reservations, while the Fare Watcher can send you a weekly e-mail message listing the lowest fares to your favorite destinations. (http://www.expedia.msn.com) | |||
| TheTrip.com | Provides all the services you need to set up a trip. From booking flights & getting to the airport to making car & hotel reservations. Has a simple Web interface. Your requests are sent to travel agents, who book the reservations and mail you the tickets. (http://www.thetrip.com) | |||
| CAREERS & EMPLOYMENT: | ||||
| JobOptions | Career advice & resources tailored to all sorts of professionals. Great place to post your resume. (http://www.joboptions.com) | |||
| Tripod | Aimed at recent college grads. A one-stop shop for information on work & money. If you register, you'll get a free Web page of your own, plus a handy resume builder and links to sights where you can post your finished product. (http://www.tripod.com) | |||
| PEOPLE & BUSINESS SEARCH: | ||||
| AnyWho | Reverse phone number search (http://www.anywho.com/telq.html) | |||
| BigBook | This is like the Yellow Pages. Simple to use. Just enter the name of a business, followed by the city & state. Returns a list of matching businesses & will even plot them on a map. (http://www.bigbook.com) | |||
| BigFoot | E-mail, business & home addresses, & phone numbers. (http://www.bigfoot.com) | |||
| Biography.com | A searchable online database of 15,000 people, past & present. Courtesy of the A&E cable network's program Biography. (http://www.biography.com) | |||
| LycosWhoWhere | An Internet directory that finds e-mail addresses & allows you to search its database by a person's hobbies, college, & language spoken. Also lets you search for companies, toll-free numbers, and even SEC filings. (http://whowhere.lycos.com) | |||
| Switchboard.com | Phone numbers. (http://www.switchboard.com) | |||
| Ultimate White Pages | (http://www.theultimates.com/white) | |||
| Yahoo People Search | Great if you're looking for a person, not a business. Enter as much info as you can about the person's name & location, and it gives you e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and even mailing addresses. More than 10 million listings. (http://people.yahoo.com/) | |||
| FUN & GAMES: | ||||
| BeZerk | Berkely Systems, creators of the popular You Don't Know Jack computer trivia game, sponsors this online gaming site. Offers contests & prizes. (http://www.won.net/gamerooms/bezerk) | |||
| Christian Science Monitor Interactive Crossword | This interactive crossword puzzle makes clever use of Web page forms. Cool. (http://www.csmonitor.com/puzzlers/crosswordj/crosswordj.shtml) | |||
| New York Times Trivia | The NY Times sponsors this biweekly trivia contest on its Web site. No prizes, just fun. (http://www.nytimes.com/diversions/trivia) | |||
| Virtual Arcade | Links to dozens of free game sites that use Java & Shockwave which you play right inside your browser -- no special software required. Simple-minded but addictive diversions such as a boxing match against Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, & other celebrities. (http://www.virtualarcade.com) | |||
| MUST-HAVE UTILITIES: | ||||
| Adobe Acrobat Reader | Adobe's Portable Document Format is one of the most popular ways to transmit, read, & print formatted documents electronically. Win 3.1, 95, NT, DOS, OS/2, or UNIX. Free. (http://www.adobe.com) | |||
| Eudora Light | Most popular free e-mail client with strong message filtering, solid Find function, & built-in PGP encryption. (http://www.eudora.com) | |||
| EZip Wizard | Decompresses .zip archives on the fly, expanding the file as it's downloaded. Free for decompressing. $29.95 for full version lets you compress & decompress. (http://www.edisys.com -- e32setup.exe) | |||
| McAfee VirusScan | Essential utility for those downloading files from the Internet who don't want to risk a nasty infection. Also fixes virus-infected PCs. Win 3.1, 95, NT, DOS, OS/2. $65. (http://www.mcafee.com) | |||
| Mijenix's PowerDesk Utilities | Complete fully-integrated set of desktop tools for Windows 95, 98, & NT which makes everything you do in windows faster & easier. (http://www.mijenix.com/powerdesk98.asp) | |||
| Paint Shop Pro | Popular, powerful image-editing program boasts a wide range of features. It's even compatible with Adobe Photoshop plug-ins. Win 95, 98, or NT 4.0. Nag-free trialware. $99. (http://www.jasc.com) | |||
| PassKeeper | Once you've registered at a few Web sites, it can get hard to keep track of all your user names & passwords. PassKeeper stores them for you in an encrypted database. Win 3.1 or 95. Free. (http://www.isys.hu/staff/brad/passkeeper.html) | |||
| Pretty Good Privacy 2.6.2 | Strong encryption program. DOS or UNIX. Free. (http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html) | |||
| RAS+ | If you use Win 95's Dial-Up Networking to connect to the Net, RAS+ will make your life easier by handling multiple Internet accounts, tracking your online time, & more. Win 95. $30. (http://www.lambsoftware.com) | |||
| WinZip 7.0 | An essential part of any online user's tool kit. Compresses & decompresses ZIP files & handles files encoded for transmission via e-mail. Win 3.1, 95, or NT. $29. Shareware. (http://www.winzip.com) | |||
| Yankee Clipper Plus | Saves up to 50 Clipboard text-only items for later retrieval. (http://www.tiac.net/users/lvasseur/ycphome.html) | |||
| OTHER UTILITIES: | ||||
| Almanac | With its support for over 50 time zones, Almanac is an ideal personal information manager, including calendar, appointment scheduler, address book, to-do list manager, and notepad. Great for international business travelers. Win 3.x, 95, or NT. $39.95. (http://www.impactsoft.com/almanac/almanac.html) | |||
| CodedDrag 2.1 | Encryption program that integrates into Windows, letting you drag or right-click from Explorer to safeguard files, directories, & drives. Free. (http://www.fim.uni-linz.ac.at/codeddrag/codedrag.htm) | |||
| Diskdata | Tells you how much space each drive, folder, & subfolder is taking up on your hard drive. Free. (http://www.digallery.com/diskdata -- ddsetup.exe) | |||
| File-Ex | Why climb directory trees when you don't have to. This nifty utility adds Recent and Favorites lists to Window's Open & Save dialog boxes so you can find files quickly. Win 3.1 or 95. $29.95. (http://www.cottonwoodsw.com) | |||
| Instabase 4.0 | Build flat-file databases using name fields & frames with ability to include graphics using copy/paste option. Recognizes web & e-mail addresses & clicking on such lets your browser retrieve them. Shareware. 30-day free trial. $29. (http://www.instabase.com) | |||
| Internet Text Translator | Windows translator to degarble e-mail, attachments, & Mac documents. Converts UNIX or Mac text files to Windows format & UUencoded text files back to binary format & vice versa. Win 3.1 or 95. Download size $15. (http://hometown.aol.com/vbexpressn/index.htm) | |||
| Jackhammer | Helps you access sites that are constantly busy. Just enter the site's URL, select a default browser, & Jackhammer will pound away at the site until you get in. It can also initiate downloads & notify you when the download is complete. Win 95. $20. (http://www.sausage.com/jackhammer/jackhammer.html) | |||
| Maximizer Lite | Basic personal information manager that is able to handle as many as 100 contacts. Free. (http://www.maximizer.com) | |||
| NetMon 2.0 | Find out what your modem's doing while you're online. Displays the rate of data received & transmitted over your Internet connection. The graph is updated every second & the average throughput is calculated over a 5-minute interval. Win 95. Free. (http://www.codeoftheweek.com/netmon) | |||
| Screen Loupe | Magnify your screen. Handy utility gives you a close-up view of whatever part of the screen you're pointing to -- magnified up to 8 times. Can save contents of Loupe window to clipboard. (http://www.execpc.com/~sbd) | |||
| WinWeather 4.0 | Get the latest weather conditions & ski reports via satellite images & maps before heading out on your trip. Brings you hourly updates for major U.S. cities & soon the world. Free trial version. (http://www.igsnet.com/igs) | |||
| REFERENCE DESK: | ||||
| Foreign Languages for Travelers | Select the language you speak & the language you want to learn from numerous options including Bengali, French, Russian, Spanish, & Swahili. You'll find basic vocabulary terms, pronunciation guides, translating dictionaries, slang guides, & other essentials. (http://www.travlang.com/languages) | |||
| Internet Movie Database | (http://us.imdb.com/search) | |||
| Kelly Blue Book | Book values for used cars. (http://www.kbb.com) | |||
| National Address Server | You'll never need to send another piece of mail without a ZIP code again. Enter what you know of an address and the address server will supply as much of the missing data, including parts of street names, as it can. (http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/adserv.html) | |||
| Old Farmer's Almanac | Good advice & accurate weather & astronomical predictions make this almanac (first published in 1792) an instant classic. Folksy, funny, & useful. (http://www.almanac.com) | |||
| OneLook Dictionaries | A swift search through an index of more than 479,848 words in 81 dictionaries from the classic Webster's to computing glossaries to the Carnivorous Plant Dictionary. An asterisk "wild card" expands your query. (http://www.onelook.com) | |||
| Pitsco's Ask an Expert | Want to ask "Why don't the Amish use electricity?" Need some tips from a Java pro? This directory of links will lead you to experts from all walks of life, whether high tech or unplugged. (http://www.askanexpert.com) | |||
| Quotation Pages | More quotations. (http://www.starlingtech.com/quotes) | |||
| Roget's Thesaurus | Find synonyms for particular terms or words. (http://web.cs.city.ac.uk/text/roget/thesaurus.html) | |||
| Siskel & Ebert | Movie reviews by the famous duo. (http://www.siskel-ebert.com) | |||
| WWWebster Dictionary | Enter the word you want defined & almost instantly, WWWebster will give you the word's meaning, pronunciation, function, origin, & synonyms. If you're unsure of the spelling, the dictionary will deliver words that resemble what you typed. Invaluable. (http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm) | |||
| BROWSER PLUG-INS: | ||||
| RealPlayer | RealNetwork's latest plug-in handles more than just strwaming Web audio programming. In addition to FM-sound RealAudio, RealPlayer handles 2 types of streaming media -- RealVideo programs & RealFlash animation. Free. (http://www.real.com) | |||
| Shockwave & Flash Plug-ins | Quick-loading plug-in from Macromedia which handles highly interactive web page animations & good sound. Handles both regular Shockwave & Macromedia's new Flash apps that power streaming animation & graphics as well as interactive banners & maps. Free. (http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download) | |||
| MISCELLANEOUS: | ||||
| ParaChat | Free chat room for your website. Displays banner ads & not big on options, but it's free. (http://www.parachat.com) | |||
| Remind Yourself | Send yourself a reminder for an important date such as the (boss's dog's birthday) with FreeMinder. Just fill in a form with a date, e-mail address, & the text of your address. At 12:30 on the date you specify, the service sends you a reminder. Free. (http://www.cvp.com/freemind) | |||
| TPC Fax | You can send a fax just by filling out a web form. Stop by the Web site of The Phone Company (a private enterprise) & check out its Remote Printing Service. Faxes usually go within a few hours. Free. (http://www.tpc.int) | |||
| Talk in private | Talk privately in Talk.com, HotWired's chat service. Free. (http://www.talk.com) | |||
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