Learn by Watching

PC Show and Tell offers tech support through video clips on free site.

Lincoln Spector, special to PC World

Need to learn how to attach a file to a message in Eudora Pro, or insert a horizontal line in Word 2000? PC Show and Tell will explain it in moving pictures rather than words.

People must be finding it useful--or at least interesting. The site launched on October 1. As of mid-December, the company claims to have logged 250,000 unique users and over 10 million hits.

Before you can view any of the site's "shows," you must download and install the PC Show and Tell plug-in, which uses a combination of proprietary and Lotus Screen Cam technology. If you're having trouble with your software, installing another program into the shaky Windows environment may be the last thing you want to do. The good news is that I found no problems with the PC Show and Tell plug-in.

At some point soon, perhaps in January, the site will also support RealNetworks Real Player and Microsoft's Windows Media player. It's not that these are leaner or more stable than the proprietary plug-in, but you probably already have one of them installed.

Once you have the software, it's time to find the right tutorial. The search is simple, but PC Show and Tell suffers from the same problem as every other technical support knowledge base: Murphy's Law ensures that it probably won't have an answer to your particular question.

Approximately 10,000 tutorials are on the site. This may seem overwhelming, but they are spread thin, offering help for 60 different programs and Web sites. For example, you'll find only 398 Windows 98 shows--not a comprehensive number.

The site is adding about 300 shows a day, according to PC Show and Tell representatives. They hope to add 1000 each day by the end of the first quarter.

If you find the show you need, viewing it is simple and painless. But keep your mouse near the pause button; you'll want to stop the tutorial every few seconds so you can follow the instructions.

Some people learn better by seeing than by reading. If you're one of these people, PC Show and Tell might prove useful if a task is beyond your own knowledge.