\n\tThis photo gallery is also available as a post in the Five Apps Blog.
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\n\tWhile IT folks are, of course, some of the smartest people on the planet, even we need to keep our skills sharp. There may even be skills we don’t have that might make us more useful or perhaps advance our career. I’ve assembled five web apps (with a bonus sixth selection!) that you can use to hone your IT skills as well as make yourself smarter in other business-related areas.
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\n\tThe first selection is WikiHow. It is a collection of walkthroughs on how to do just about anything – from IT to public speaking to building a cabinet.
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\n\tScreenshot of WikiHow website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
\n\tNext is Lynda.com. A video-training site, it has tutorials/classes on nearly everything as well.
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\n\tScreenshot of Lynda.com website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
\n\tDrilling down into what is available, you can see here a list of 15 courses available in the Developer category under the Advanced skill level.
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\n\tScreenshot of Lynda.com website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
\n\tGroup Policy is perhaps the second-biggest boogeyman in Windows, right behind the registry itself. GP Answers is a site dedicated to tips, tricks, and tutorials on how to make Group Policy work for you.
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\n\tScreenshot of GP Answers website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
\n\tHere’s an example Group Policy ADM file that disables writing data to USB drives. It’s likely that many IT professionals could use something like this to keep private company data from walking.
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\n\tScreenshot of GP Answers website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
\n\tFor example, the dedicated section on Internet Explorer may help network administrators decide when they should roll out the next version to their user base and how much training may be needed on the new features or layout.
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\n\tScreenshot of MSDN website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
\n\tMind Tools does not have any directly IT-related topics on their site, however many of the topics will make you a better employee, employer, or contract worker/consultant.
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\n\tScreenshot of Mind Tools website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
\n\tMany IT professionals eventually move toward a management role – IT manager, CTO, or CIO, for example – and may need to learn good leadership skills. Mind Tools offers several courses under various topics, like leadership, to help you advance yourself and your career.
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\n\tScreenshot of Mind Tools website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic
