Good forums are hard to find. When I have a tech problem to solve, I often do a keyword search, and get hundreds of results that often lead me to forums. The only problem with this is, is that MOST forums seem more concerned that the topic is posted in the *right* thread, or that the members treat their moderators with respect. Have you noticed this? For example, I recently did a search for an AVG Anti-virus problem- a friend of mine was getting notices by her AVG program, saying she had a slew of viruses in her computer. She asked me for help, so I did a search for the virus names. I think I visited about 25 various forums, all of them useless! Here’s why:

Confused User: HELP!!! The trojan horse XYZ showed up in my google updater last week and this week it was in a restore folder in my system volume information folder. My computer is acting strange and I am on a relative’s computer to ask for help here. My house is going to foreclose and my bank account will be drained unless I get some help fast!

Moderator: Your question is posted in the wrong thread. Please do not post your questions in the wrong place, it makes us very angry and we care more about forum regulations than helping people.
Follow the lengthy and confusing directions here:

http://www.nohelpatall.html

BillyBobJoker: Hey, you need new laptop or some good diet pill review? Go see some hot deals here! www.billionsofflashingbannerads.org

Moderator2: U 2? Ya, 1 iz al U need 2 totalee rek ur hard drve. Da R izz no help 4 u, man. Good luk.

Confused User: All I asked for was some help! I don’t know where to put my question, because there are 100 forum topics and half of them have flashing banner ads and weird World of Warcraft animated images! I can’t use my own computer, so I’m stuck driving out to my mother-in-law’s house. Does anyone have any help for me?

Moderator: [Confused User booted from Forum for posting question in wrong thread.]

And so it goes….. :-p

ANYWAY, I’m hoping I found a good tech forum, a reliable one that I can go back to when I have questions. It’s hosted by the folks who run a very good e-zine newsletter, WinXPNews. The forum is here. It’s brand new, with only a few threads and replies right now. But feel free to take a look at it, add your two cents! Good forums require good participation and good users. I recommend the e-zine, I’ve been getting it for years and it’s always filled with relevant tech information (and fun stuff, too). They recently started up a VistaNews e-zine and accompanying website, too.

Tags: forums, tech help