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Computers can be a very confusing and intimidating subject for many people.  Not only are the machines themselves a bit daunting, but people with little or no previous experience with computers, often have had communications with impatient “computer experts who make them feel even more intimidated with computers.  The fortunate thing about this is that there exists an incredibly large community of eager, knowledgeable people who are more than willing to help anyone (even a newcomer, or a “newbie” as they say)—just a few clicks away. This community exists in the various and sundry forums and newsgroups that populate the internet.  Before giving you a list of a few of the more helpful ones, I would like to provide a few hints to newbies, so that their experience in these forums can be as smooth and helpful as possible.

A. Before you post, see if you can fix the problem yourself (if you are thinking, “Paul, if I could fix it myself I wouldn’t be reading this article, then just scroll down to Section B ):
 

1. If your problem is with hardware

1. Try powering down and then restarting the hardware. 
2. Try uplugging and plugging back in, the cables between your computer and the particular piece of hardware—both ends, the one going into the computer, as well as the one going into the peripheral. Sometimes, stuff stops working because a cable has become ever-so-slightly detached from the hardware its supposed to be connected to.
3. Try reading the owner’s manual. If you threw away whatever came with the device, most companies do have pdf copies you can download, which lists troubleshooting tips. 
4. Try updating drivers. This sounds much  more difficult than you might think.  Go to the hardware manufacturer’s site, and look for a link that says “Support and Drivers,” or even “Support.”  Then, you can look for drivers in that section.  After downloading them, you can either click on them to install, or more likely, ask Windows to update the driver for you; if you keep track of where you downloaded the driver, you can direct Windows to search in that directory (such as the Desktop). 

    Now I know from personal experience,  that sometimes the sections for drivers are hard to find.  If I just cannot for the life of me, find a driver at the hardware vendor’s site, I go to www.driverguide.com . You can very quickly find drivers for hardware, even for hardware that is so old, the original vendor is no longer supporting it (I know it sounds bad, but this does happen).  To find drivers for old hardware, at driverguide, click on the Drivers link.  These files will be from driverguide’s own servers. 

Additionaly, driverguide.com also gives you links to the drivers sections of the hardware vendor’s own sites. When you go to driverguide, click on the tab that says Manufacturers, and then you will be asked to select the vendor’s name.   

Do keep in mind that it is highly possible that the driver you are trying to update is actually newer than the one in the file you are trying to install.  As a rule of the thumb, you should always use the most recent file.  When this is the case, Windows will tell you that the driver you have currently installed is more recent. If you are sure it is the driver, or would like to find out, you can perhaps uninstall and then reinstall the driver—just make sure you are not using an older driver. Now I said that this is a rule of the thumb. If you have reason to suspect that particular version of a driver, then you might want to go back. But unless you do, you will be best off keeping the newest driver, and looking elsewhere for the cause of your problem.

2. If it is a software problem, Check the creator’s site and see if they have an updated version (that might have fixed the problem you are experiencing).  Even if you still have your problem, at least you will be using the version that everyone else is, which will make their advice that much more applicable to you.

1. If you are getting an error message, try googling, using the most important words as your search query. Many times, you can get a solution in the first few results. If there isn’t any error message, try googling key words that are as specific as you can get, for example, “monitor blinks” or something like that. 
2.  Search the forum, or at least skim through the FAQs (sometimes they are known as “stickies,” because they are placed permanently, i.e., “stuck,” at the top of each forum).

• Try to explain what you have already done, to solve the problem, such as, re-installing or updating the driver, applying the remedy in this or that MS Knowledgebase article, rebooting, etc.
• Try to explain the problem with as exact language as possible, so that someone who is not watching you at your computer can tell what problem you are experiencing.
• Include relevant hardware and software information such as: Operating System and version; particular version of the software you are having trouble with.  You can find the particular version of your operating system by right-clicking on the My Computer icon (a new version of Windows calls it Computer) and selecting Properties.  The window that comes up will tell you what version of Windows you have. 

Before posting in forums, most forums will require you to register (enter a username, password, email address, etc.).  Some forums will allow you to automatically be notified whenever someone posts in a thread that you have started (this is called “subscribing” to a thread); most forums will allow you to subscribe to threads others have started.  If you do want these email notifications, look when you register, and see if they give you this option.  I always select it if I have the choice, but this isn’t always the default option, so you may have to look in your profile and select this option.  If for whatever reason you don’t want this, then get into the habit of bookmarking the forum you post in.  I won’t tell you the number of times I have started a thread in a new forum, not bookmarked it, and then totally forgotten about it, or forgotten what forum I posted in, till I inadvertently stumbled upon it some weeks later.  If you have a link in your bookmarks folder, you will always be able to navigate to it. 

 
D.  The following is a list of forums that I have found to be very helpful over the years. 

They have a very very good ratio of helpful advice, compared to flames and other types of nonsense discussions.

1. Microsoft newsgroups.  You can find the complete list here (http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx ).   From that page, look for the particular program you need help with.  For problems with any Microsoft product (Windows, the Internet Explorer browser, any of the Microsoft Office suite programs such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.)—there are specific newsgroups that deal with each program.  Now this is not “official” Microsoft support, but Microsoft MVPs answer a LOT of the questions that people ask (MVPs are people who have provided great service to the tech community, and are given recongnition for this by Microsoft—they are not Microsoft employees, but they are still highly knowledgeable).
2. Mozillazine http://forums.mozillazine.org If you are having problems with the Mozilla Firefox browser, you can post in these forums. Just as with the Microsoft newsgroups, this is not “official” Mozilla advice, but the folks there are also highly knowledgeable.
3. http://www.oooforum.org is a good source for help with any of the OpenOffice programs.
4. www.windowsbbs.com  is a good source for problems with any of the above: Windows, MS Office, Internet Explorer, or Mozilla.  They do have some MVPs who help out there, as well. If you are particularly hesitant about posting in a forum, or worried about getting laughed at or lectured in some way,  the Windowsbbs forum is probably the most newbie-friendly of the forums listed. 
5. If you are having serious virus problems with your computer, two forums I would heartily recommend are the Windowsbbs forum, and the Techguy forums (I have gotten excellent, freindly advice in both of them).
   

 E. If you get an answer that works

1. Thank the person who provided it.  Computer techs are people, too, ya know?
2. See if the forum allows you to indicate that a good answer has been provided.  Sometimes there is a button to click below each post; other forums will let you mark a thread that you started as “solved.” Others will simply allow you to edit the thread title with [solved] in front of the title.  Why bother with this?  For good reason.  It tells someone in the future, who is searching through prior threads, that that particular thread has an answer.  It will make it easier for others to locate good information in the forums.