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| Online newsletter: tips and help | Delivery frequency | What you get | The high and low points | Bottom line | How to subscribe |
About Windows/About Computers | Weekly | About.com's specialist guides point you to Windows tips and PC hardware tips, respectively. | The Windows tips tend to focus on Windows XP, while About Computers covers a broader range of topics (including some Windows settings). You have to read the tips on About's site. | With topics ranging from how to change your browser's start page to how to build your own PC, About's tips cover a lot of ground. | Enter your e-mail address in the Subscribe form on windows.about.com (for the Windows newsletter) or on about.com/compute (for the Computers newsletter).> |
Langa List Standard Edition | Twice weekly | Former Byte magazine editor Fred Langa provides Windows tips, hardware help, and shareware links aimed at the intermediate or advanced Windows user. | Great advice and shareware links; subjects vary from broadly useful tips to solutions for obscure problems. The Plus Edition, with more content than the Standard list, costs $1 a month. | The topics may go over some users' heads, but Langa provides high-quality information for hard-core PC users. | Head to www.langa.com/newsletter.htm and fill in the e-mail form. |
Naked PC | Twice monthly | Four guys you wouldn't want to see naked produce an average of three long, technical articles (such as a comparison of new motherboards), interspersed with long ads. | Good technical information that unfortunately sometimes suffers from buzzword-itis. It's not always clear if you're reading an ad or a tip until you get to the very end. | Solid information on a wide range of slightly-ahead-of-the-curve topics, including new and developing technologies. | Fill in the form on the front page of thenakedpc.com. |
| TechGuy | Daily | Mailing list features the advice of a contingent of technically savvy readers who help others with their PC problems. | A great place to go if you're looking for the solution to a tricky problem. It's an open mailing list, with highly variable mail volume and subject matter. | Helpful in the short term, but you might not want to subscribe for long periods (unless you like helping others). | E-mail majordomo@helponthe.net with the words SUBSCRIBE TECHGUY in the body of the message. |
| Woody's Office Watch/Windows Watch | Weekly | These two newsletters from Woody Leonhard (he writes seven) provide opinionated tips for Microsoft Office and Windows. | Entertaining, light reading for users with almost any level of technical skill. The Certified Office Victim author tends to gripe more than he provides concrete solutions. | Usually an entertaining read, but the newsletters sometimes fall short on advice and end up heavy on opinion. | Plug your e-mail address into the form on the front page of woodyswatch.com to get all of Woody's newsletters. |
| Online newsletter: news and current information | Delivery frequency | What you get | The high and low points | Bottom line | How to subscribe |
| CNet News.com Daily Dispatch | Daily | Links to current tech news headlines from the News.com wire. Other newsletters, such as "Digital Dispatch", provide links to reviews and features. | Contains news you're unlikely to find anywhere else. Ads clutter the HTML newsletter, however, and for you to register CNet wants your job title, zip code, and details about where you work. | Great for tech investors (all 12 of you) or anyone who wants technology news fast. | Head to the CNet Newsletter Center to register with your e-mail address, then check the boxes next to newsletters you want. |
| Computer Privacy Digest | Daily | A weekly summary of news reports and opinions, plus practical links about online privacy, which have been posted to a moderated Usenet newsgroup. | One of the last truly useful e-mail digests that doesn't display a lick of advertising. Some posts can be too technical or cover topics too obscure for the average PC user. | Helpful and informative, whether you're just curious about online privacy or have a keen interest in protecting your personal information. | E-mail the moderator at comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu and ask to subscribe. |
| Kuro5hin Email Digest | Daily, weekly, or monthly | Community-posted and reader-rated news headlines about technology and culture, with topics ranging from brownie recipes to Internet crime. | Topics hit the front page if they get enough votes from registered users. The technology coverage tends to focus more on the esoteric than on everyday matters of PC use. | Cool news from cutting-edge readers; not limited to the matters or problems of daily computing. | Register at Kuro5hin, then click the My Account link at the bottom of the page to choose the frequency of the e-mail digests. |
| New York Times Newsletters | Daily or weekly | Technology news coverage from the newspaper's Circuits section (weekly) and Technology section (daily). | The newspaper of record covers a wide range of technology products and issues. Not every story provides useful tips or take-away. | Reliably competent reporting on new high-tech products and services, and how they may improve (or complicate) your daily life. | Register on nytimes.com, then head to New York Times on the Web, check the Technology box, and choose the number of headlines per e-mail you wish to receive. |
| SiliconValley.com Dispatches | Daily | Reporting and commentary from the San Jose Mercury News, a newspaper in the heart of Silicon Valley. | Excellent technology coverage with a West Coast spin. Emphasis on the tech economy seems out of date. | Strong reporting on technology issues with a greater focus on practical advice than the New York Times. | Click the Email Dispatches link in the upper-right corner of the home page, register as a user, and then choose the newsletters you want to read. |
| Wired Newsdrop | Daily | Quick-hit links to the day's top technology news stories from Wired.com and other Lycos network sites. | Wired covers many interesting stories you're not likely to read anywhere else. But many of those stories focus on the people who create technology or on business topics. | Compelling forward-looking journalism that, sometimes to its detriment, keeps its head in the sky and its feet off the ground. | To subscribe, sign up as a Lycos network member and choose the Wired Newsdrop newsletter. |
| ZDNet's AnchorDesk/Tech Update | 3 weekly/ daily | Links to stories from ZDNet's tech news pundits. "Anchordesk" links to a few in-depth stories, while "Tech Update" provides links to the day's headlines. | Good, deep reporting from the heart of the technology business. Unfortunately, none of it gets into the newsletter: It's all links back to the Web site, and almost no content. | Even though it's packaged as a unique item, "Tech Update" seems like a rehash of CNet's News.com e-mail. "AnchorDesk" provides strong opinions. | Enter your e-mail address in the Newsletters sign-up box at the bottom-right side of the ZDNet home page. |
| Online newsletter: shareware/freeware and sites | Delivery frequency | What you get | The high and low points | Bottom line | How to subscribe |
| DealNews | Daily | A daily list of links to the best discounts on technology products sold on the Web, from printer ink cartridges to new computers or peripherals. | Manages to find all kinds of bargains you may not have found otherwise. But you may not be in the market for many of the products listed for sale on any given day. | Great for finding low-price computer parts and peripherals--if you don't mind waiting for the product you want. | Sign up under the subscribe link on the dealnews.com home page. |
| The Internet Tourbus | Weekly | Written in an offhand, jocular tone, this newsletter links to a couple of sometimes-humorous, sometimes-useful Web sites. | Can contain a wealth of helpful and entertaining links, but the newsletter's length and quality varies a lot from week to week. | A sometimes-valuable resource that's worth reading in the long run. | Enter your e-mail address in the form on tourbus.com. |
| Lockergnome | Daily or weekly | Chris Pirillo's links to the best shareware for Windows users, with Windows and hardware tips, plus cool Web links, all written in his very distinctive style. | Pirillo covers a wide range of topics well, in daily and weekly versions, in plain text or HTML. Brevity is the soul of a newsletter, however, and the write-ups could be a little more concise. | A must-read for almost any Windows user or Internet fanatic. | Sign up on the front page of lockergnome.com. |