@Computerworld Help!

Make the most of your visit to @Computerworld. The following information will help guide you through the site, but if you experience any problems, let us know at help@cw.com. You may also want to check out the page on browser tips and our FAQ page.

@Computerworld Forums are interactive discussion threads where you can submit postings or view postings by others. To view a posting within these forums, simply click on the subject, which is a hypertext link. If you wish to respond to the posting, click on the respond button. You will then be presented with a form. Type your response in the form (your text will automatically line-wrap when you hit the submit button). Be sure to use only letters and numerals in the title of your post. After submitting, you can preview your text before posting it. You can respond in either plain text or Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The HTML option is for users who prefer to format their own response. Please read @Computerworld's Submission Rules before joining a forum if you are unfamiliar with online etiquette.

QuickPoll is a polling device consisting of five yes/no questions devoted to a specific topic or news event each week. To use the poll, you must answer every question. You may only vote once, but the Current Standings link on the QuickPoll page will let you view the tally if you want to check back later.

Keyword or concept-based searching
@Computerworld uses the Excite search engine, which allows users to conduct either concept or keyword searches through two year's worth of Computerworld newspaper back issues. In other words, you can find what you are looking for even if you don't know the exact words the document is likely to contain. For example, if you are interested in finding information about Windows alternatives to Unix, you could request a concept search such as windows alternatives to unix. A keyword search would require you to guess what words the document contains. In a concept-based search, words are reduced to their stems (e.g. "running" and "runners" become "run"), and different words with similar meanings become related to one another (e.g. "run" and "jog").

A keyword search is useful if you know exactly what word you are looking for. If, however, you only have a vague idea of what you want to find, a concept search is superior because it returns articles you may not have expected to find. If you find at least one article that is particularly relevant, you can find other similar articles by choosing the red or black icon to the left of the story title on the Search Results page. This will start another search using the entire article as a query.

Formulating your query
For concept searching, submit your query in plain English, using a phrase you would use if you were asking someone in person. If you're having a hard time getting good results, try rephrasing your query. You don't need to use punctuation, but if you do, Architext will simply ignore it.

Further help on searching is available.

The Computerworld Broadcast Center contains links that will send an audio feed to your computer using the RealAudio player. If you don't have the player, you can download the latest copy of the RealAudio Player from the RealAudio Web site.

Once you have installed the player, configure it using the preferences menu option in the application. Most importantly, be sure to set the proper network connection speed for your modem or network connection. If you experience a lot of breakup in the sound quality, try setting the connection speed to a lower setting.

To hear our audio content, you may need direct Internet access. There may be problems with receiving audio streams from within corporate intranet or firewall connections. RealAudio has a help page regarding firewalls. If you are experiencing problems configuring or using the RealAudio player, you can visit RealAudio's help pages for Windows, the Macintosh or their General Help & FAQ page.

For other problems with the @Computerworld audio feed, please E-mail our audio engineer, Chad Seay.

TechCity provides access to vendors and information services regarding general technology. To visit a specific vendor's lobby, click on the skyscraper bearing the vendor's name.