Mac's Picks is a collection of family friendly interesting and useful sites, updated weekly. These sites may be search engines, medical resources, household hints, educational resources, recipe sites, sites I call "head scratchers", and/or new sites dealing with all kinds of things of use to the general internet community. To find the criteria I use, simply click on the "Why and How Info" link on the right side of this page.

This page is updated on a weekly basis, each Tuesday evening Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 9 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit us often.

Important Note: If you are returning to my page, welcome back! Please click your "Refresh" or "Reload" button on the top of your Internet browser to ensure you are seeing the current week's page of my "Picks of the Week". Also, I would love for you to make my site your home page. Simply click on Tools - Options in Explorer, or Edit - Preferences in Netscape, and click Use Current and it's done.

Who needs another search engine, right? Well, how about one that does things a little differently. For instance, if you are researching a subject wouldn't it be nice if the search not only brought you sites that dealt with that subject, but also brought you books that that subject is mentioned in? The new A9.com Search Technologies search facility by Amazon.Com does just that. Now that's innovative. It searches like normal search engines do but also searches any books it happens to have on hand for the same subject and brings those back to you as well. If you wish to keep a history of your searches use the link above, but if you do not wish to save that history (and yes, there are valid reasons why you may not wish to) then hop over to the A9.com Search Less History site and do your searching there. It is still in testing phase but worth a bookmark and a try for future use.

Have you ever had your system tell you that it can't operate some piece of gear on your computer because the driver is corrupt? And how often do any of us check to see if there is a new version of the driver for our various components or not? If you hop over to the DriverGuide.com site you'll find printer drivers, cdrom drivers, modem drivers, sound drivers, mouse drivers, monitor drivers, etc. So give it a bookmark for those times when you just might need it.

I have to admit something. I'm a gadget freak. In other words, I simply love new and innovative gadgets. That doesn't mean that I run out with credit card in hand and buy everything I see, but it does mean that I love keeping track of what's being released and what is just around the corner with new things. Thus, a site like Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools is one that I definitely keep track of. If you want to know about any cool gadgets, he may well tell you about them, and he doesn't mince words. He tells you the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

Want to make your pc act (or rather, sound) different from your friends and neighbors? Then you need to change the sounds usually found under My Computer/Control Panel/Sounds and Multimedia/Sounds. However, what sounds can you play for the various functions? Almost anything you have on your hard drive. And where do you get new great sounds for that purpose? Hop over to the A1 Free Sound Effects The Best Free Audio Sound Effects Downloads on the Internet. Thunder, Siren, Sports, Scary, and Weather site and download them and use them. May your Speakers Bring You Joy *chuckles*.

Ever thought it might be nice to have some place to look for annoyances you've had with Windows, and get folk who have found ways to fix it supply you with the answers? If so, hop over to Annoyances.org and have a browse around. You'll find the most complete collection of info assembled for and by Windows users, so the chance that what annoys you, has annoyed someone else in the past and they have found a fix for it. Cool site, and well worth a bookmark.

So, you have your own Garage Band, and you'd like to get noticed and maybe win a recording contract somewhere? Then hop over to the GarageBand.com site, join it, do some critique on other bands sounds, and then promote your own band for real. Do the recording companies keep track of this site? Apparently, they do, as some of the folk here will testify. Get yourself known and on the road to stardom. It couldn't be easier.

You may have tried the Fraudster site, where you log on, put up a profile, and start messaging and talking to friends of friends of friends around the world, but there are times when it simply isn't good enough. However, if you Join Tribe.net you'll find that it is much like fraudster, but it works better and faster. Even Kat at Techs says the same thing. Give it a try. You never know, that "6 degrees of separation" thing might just work for you in making good friends around the globe.

Have a DVDR or VCD drive on your computer that doesn't do what you thought it should do? Then hop over to the DVDRhelp.com & VCDhelp.com site and have a look around. You may well find that others have had the same problem and that you can find the answer you need right here. It's worth a look.

Want to research some tasty recipes for that dinner party next week? Then hop over to the recipe at NewspaperArchive.com site and have a look at how many they have archived. I'm amazed to see that a newspaper archives their recipes as well, and might I add, some are really really good looking. Hmm, it's almost lunch time I think. *smile*

I've often thought that it would be worthwhile to teach how to do things online as I do in University classrooms or at corporate clients. However, after looking at the actDEN (Digital Education Network) Software Tutorials and Online Courses site I can see that I'm not alone in that thought. This is definitely worth a bookmark and a good browse around. You may find a course here that you need yourself. Give it a try.

Ever wondered what (BEG) or (1-2-1) or (A/S/L) mean when you are in conversation with someone or see it in a written form? Well, the first one means Big Evil Grin, the second refers to one to one communication, and the third asks for Age/Sex/and Location. How do I know? Because I'm a computer nerd, but also because I have gone to the AcronymGenie Home Page and downloaded their free application and installed it on my system to reference when I need to. Why don't you give it a try? And don't forget - RTM.

As you well know, no one can know everything, and there is a lot of info out there that you'll need to ensure you do know what you should. Well, having said that, there is some of that that is virtually useless as well. Confused? Hop over to the Welcome to the Useless Information Home Page! and have a browse around. It's full of stuff you do not need to know, but would be incomplete without it in your life. Of at least they think so, maybe, umm, *shrugs*. Enjoy.

Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is a graphic designer who is superb to say the least. Rebecca designed this "new look" web site specifically for me, and I can't praise her work enough. Her site, dedicated to women on the net, is worth seeing and bookmarking for future reference. If you are looking for links of interest to women, please visit her site. And if you need the best graphic designer on the planet, I seriously can't recommend her more highly. Oh yes, and when you visit her site, tell her Mac sent you. Thank you Rebecca. I am eternally grateful for your assistance and expertise. ;-)