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My first interaction with a computer was in elementary school when I took my first computer class. Granted, my memories of that class mostly include dying of dysentery on Oregon Trail and making ASCII art, but the seed had been planted.

As I grew older my fascination led to a career in information technology, where my first hurdle was the dreaded Y2K bug. This was the bug that was going to create food shortages, blow up ATMs, turn all electronic records to goo and send zombies out to eat us. In the end we survived Y2K in the same way we braved through the Melissa computer virus, the Love Bug worm and the Hampster Dance.

I am amazed at the amount of content that can be found on the Internet today in comparison when I first started working in IT. Back then, the information was available, but took some digging and a lot of patience to find that nugget of information you needed. Like how to keep your computer from playing “Free Bird” randomly and rebooting nonstop. If I open up a browser today and type in “pc keeps rebooting” I get more than 10,000 results. Still no hits on “Free Bird” playing randomly, though.

I am always on the search to find solutions for not only computer issues, but also regular daily issues that tend to pop up now and then. There are instructions online for just about anything. Need to learn how to drive a manual transmission? Want to learn how to win at carnival games?

There are a ton of Web sites that provide answers to these questions and anything else the mind can imagine. The downside is sifting through the digital babble that exists on the Internet. I don’t have time for lengthy searches; I have podcasts to listen to and Lolcats to create. Erm, I mean, I have a lot of computers to fix.

For this reason one of my favorite Web sites to visit is Lifehacker.com. This blog has been around since 2005 and is dedicated to posting productivity tips or “life hacks” everyone can use. As posted on their site, Lifehacker.com is a blog that helps you “get things done smarter and more efficiently.”

Want to read the latest on Firefox 3? A simple search for Firefox 3 will bring you a long list of articles for your perusal. Still haven’t gotten a hang of Windows Vista? Check out the post “How to Make Windows Vista Less Annoying” for tips on how to stop your computer to rebooting after updates and how to use the compatibility mode option.

Even with all the information to be found on the Internet, it is still up to the end user to be proactive and not follow everything blindly. Not all instructions are foolproof and not all solutions work. I’m still working on learning how to drive that manual transmission. In the meantime I’ll work on mastering the balloon dart throw.

CJ Castillo writes about technology for the Victoria Advocate. Questions about all things tech or requests for ASCII art can be e-mailed to digitalbabble@gmail.com or sent in care of The Victoria Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77902.