Software that provides assistance with a hardware device or with software. Help systems for Windows and the Mac have typically followed a common standard and used the same format (see Windows help system), while auxiliary help systems such as the Office Assistant in Microsoft Office or the Wizards in Windows provide alternate methods, the latter taking you through a step-by-step solution (see wizard). Today, many applications default to the Web and use HTML pages as their documentation. The Web affords a convenient way to keep documentation up-to-date for everyone. See RTFM.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Inside India's CAPTCHA solving economy
- No CAPTCHA can survive a human that's receiving financial incentives for solving it, and with an army of low-waged human CAPTCHA solvers officially in the business of "data processing" while earning a mere $2 for solving a thousand CAPTCHA's, I'm already starting to see evidence of consolidation between India's major...
- Blog posts 2008-08-29
- Mobile access to your SIS
- Several student information system SIS vendors offer to sync data with a Palm Pilot or Windows Mobile PDA. This is a handy feature for teachers on field trips, assistant principals stalking the halls, etc. It's fairly limited in it's utility, though since it generally only provides a static...
- Blog posts 2008-08-29
- Microsoft patents 'Page Up' and 'Page Down'
- The software maker has been granted a US patent on "navigating paginated content in page-based increments." Microsoft has been granted a patent on 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' keystrokes. The software giant applied for the patent in 2005, and was granted it on August 19, 2008....
- News items 2008-08-29
- IBM claims 'Quicksilver' flash sets data-speed record
- A project under development from IBM is setting new records for data-transfer speeds using solid-state technology with one million input/outputs per second. IBM has said its 'Project Quicksilver' is setting new records for data-transfer speeds on solid-state technology, with its tests showing a disk-storage solution hitting one million input/outputs...
- News items 2008-08-29
- Netbooks just want to be free
- At a trade show in Berlin, T-Mobile confirmed that it will sell an Asus Eee PC 901 netbook with built-in 3G. If the prices on these bundles come close to what's been rumored, they could start to catch on. In the UK, Asus already offers a free...
- Blog posts 2008-08-29
- News to know: Dell; Comcast's cap; Yahoo Mash RIP; Google Apps
- Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily: Larry Dignan: Dell: Turnaround interuptus as share grab hurts net, margins Google, Mozilla extend search box deal Jason Hiner: Sprint unveils location-based 'geobrowsing' on...
- Blog posts 2008-08-29
- The depressing future of the Internet
- A brief overview of how the Internet came about: some years ago, some military boffs thought it'd be awesome if computers could talk to each other, so the US could nuke the hell out of other countries without actually being near there. A smart professor from England then came up...
- Blog posts 2008-08-28
- Comcast takes broadband cap plunge; Other carriers likely to follow
- Comcast will implement a 250 GB data monthly cap on customers starting Oct. 1. The move, reported first by DSL Reports, was confirmed by Comcast today Techmeme. On its site, Comcast posted its amended user policy: We've listened to feedback from our customers who asked that...
- Blog posts 2008-08-28
- Windows 7 must avoid the marketing trap that Vista stumbled into
- Windows 7 must avoid the marketing trap that Vista stumbled intoI agree "One OS to unite them all""One price to keep all happy" In the end it's just a marketing ploy different versions each with their own "missing" pieces. In many ways it looks like double dipping...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
- An IE8 Beta 2 Q
- An IE8 Beta 2 QWhat if you uninstall beta 1 first?Will you fall back to IE7 then be able to install beta 2 with a fallback to IE7?Can I uninstall IE8? Yes ... unless ...... you downloaded and installed IE8 Beta 1 prior to installing Windows XP SP3, in which...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
- Why does Safari stink?
- Why does Safari stink?Safari on iPhone is even worseSafari on a Mac should work at least as well as Firefox. but on the iPhone it crashes regularly or locks up the iPhone. And it appears Apple's licensing is designed to preclude any competition:"Apple's software requirements for the device are too...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
- Apple bans murderous comic
- Apple bans murderous comicThis is pretty bad stuff for general viewing.I think Apple is correct in banning this stuff since it is fairly violent and children should not be seeing this stuff. I seen children with iPhones so IMHO don't want children get a hold of this stuff. Since Apple...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
- SaaS market will 'collapse' in two years
- SaaS market will 'collapse' in two yearsHe doesn't get itSo to summarize Debes (who comes off a little like Vinny from da mob or a coke dealer - his words, not mine):(1) SaaS and Cloud computing as a delivery vehicle has been tried before and therefore will fail (like all...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
- Is probiotics a scam?
- Is probiotics a scam?Is probiotics a scam?Probiotics are not a scam but you do have to know what you are looking for. I was taking a digestive enzyme which had several probiotics in it including acidophilus. It worked fine for me. Will I recommend them to everyone? No...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
- Google Apps dashboard: Serious about the enterprise?
- Google is developing a system status reporting dashboard for its Apps Premier product line. This decision provides further evidence Google is serious about becoming an enterprise software vendor. by Michael Krigsman
- Blog posts 2008-08-28
- Attention Craig Newmark: Citizens aren't customers
- Attention Craig Newmark: Citizens aren't customersDemocracy versus politicsThank you for discussing the difference between spectator politics and participative democracy. It seems to me that technology can definitely be put to better use for enabling the latter. At the risk of rambling, perhaps that might be a role that the newspaper...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
- SaaS market will 'collapse' in two years
- Lawson's CEO, Harry Debes says SaaS is the third attempt at "on demand" in his lifetime and predicts it will take the same path as the first two--to oblivion. Lawson's CEO, Harry Debes, doesn't believe in software-as-a-service SaaS. ...
- News items 2008-08-28
- Smart grid player Trilliant closes $40 million in funding round
- Trilliant, a green tech company that's working with about 100 utilities on various smart grid deployments, has just closed a $40 million round of equity funding from a group of investors including affiliates of MissionPoint Capital Partners and zouk ventures. Trilliant CEO Bill Vogel characterizes the investment...
- Blog posts 2008-08-28
- GoBootstrap: simplifying SME accounting
- I'm keen to see startups in the accounting for small business space. Part of that is because I spent more years than I care to remember in finance roles, part is in the belief that accounting systems that reflect a 600 year old methodology are well...
- Blog posts 2008-08-28
- Resurrecting E-voting
- Resurrecting E-votingDifficulty of subverting voting machinesIt seems to me that any system can be tampered with to render the vote dishonest. However, some configurations make such tampering very hard while others are much easier to subvert. You should talk about the relative difficulty and not whether or not...
- Discussion threads 2008-08-28
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