Byte-size chunks

I thought I would start with a few jokes – you know… computers are like women, can’t live with them, can’t live without them… that sort of thing. No? OK, on with the show.

Amateurs welcome

PC Pro is a magazine for people with more than a casual interest in computers - pros in fact! And the PC Pro website seems to have been set up to cater for similar folk. But nowadays you don’t have to be a computer geek to spend a lot of time with a mouse in your hand and a stress-induced headache because your system is not doing what you want/need it to do.

There is much here to help and (possibly) interest the frequent user of a computer at home or at work. As well as the latest news and product reviews there are features on topics such as broadband and digital cameras. If you want to get technical, they can do technical in spades: lab reports, techie forums, in-depth analysis and so on. But if all you want is a flavour of what’s new and what’s best, you can avoid being sucked in too deeply – if you’re very careful.

Beyond a certain level, you have to register. This is free and, although you have to agree to receive emails from the publishers, you can immediately edit your profile and opt out from the emails. The advertising is obvious and not intrusive, and the comparison between broadband packages is probably alone worth a visit.

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Computers and the Internet". PC Pro is under "Computer systems".)

But what does it all mean?

Web 2.0 - What’s that about? What’s HTML, and how is it different from PDF? What’s the average density of a left-handed spranglejocket? All right, I made the last one up, but the others are terms you can trip over all the time if you’re not careful. What you need is TechEncyclopedia. This website has been going for years, and it’s still as useful. They claim to have definitions for over 20,000 IT terms. Given that the nerdy-ones are making them up all the time, it’s impressive that TechEncyclopedia has kept up.

They don’t just cover the deep end of the techie pool. One of their Top 10 Terms is "computer", defined as a "general-purpose machine that processes data according to a set of instructions that are stored internally either temporarily or permanently." There’s a lot more detail, with examples and links to further definitions – you can take it as far as you like and pull back when it starts to do your head in.

You might get pop-up adverts when you use this site, but as with PC Pro, they are very obvious. One word of warning: if you just want a definition, use the dedicated "Define this IT term" search box. If you use the general search you get into a world of beardy-blogs and tech-news for the seriously insomniac. Take care!

(From the Gateway to websites, select "Computers and the Internet". TechEncyclopedia is a Key Link.)

Picture Credit: mrmac04/morguefile.com