PC Magazine‘s latest issue (I subscribe to the digital version) includes a collection of 68 Windows tips. The collection is actually pretty good. I didn’t see any that were too easy or incorrect.
However, I have to say that PC Magazine has the most user-hostile Web site I have ever seen. Ever. Each of the 68 tips is on its own page, surrounded by – no, make that overwhelmed by – literally dozens of ads. It is inconceivable to me that any sane human would actually wade through this dreck. I was ready to give up after the first four tips. This sort of layout is a profound disservice to Neil J. Rubenking and the other experts who worked on this stuff. They deserve better. (And Michael Miller, if you’re reading this, I’m not the only one who thinks your Web site represents the most egregious abuse of advertising ever seen.)
Eventually, I found the printer-friendly pages for this article, where all but a single banner ad are stripped away and the tips in each category are grouped on a single page for convenient reading. As a public service, I present those links here. (Note that two of these categories consist of a single tip each, and the designer, either deliberately or through a screw-up, didn’t create a printer-friendly page.)
Customization, File Management, and Navigation
Performance and Troubleshooting
Networked, Multiuser, and Telecommuter PCs
Editing the Registry (with ads)
Windows Keyboard Shortcuts (with ads)
Ed Bott 