Developer

Five Web Apps to make you smarter

By · January 11, 2013, 2:24 AM PST

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  • WikiHow

    This photo gallery is also available as a post in the Five Apps Blog.

    While 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.

    The 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.

    Screenshot of WikiHow website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • WikiHow

    This is a problem many desktop support people probably face: the user has put in a help desk ticket because they've got this spot on their screen that won't go away.  Most IT people would probably fiddle with it and maybe get around to try some of the steps in this article by trial and error, but WikiHow can save you that precious time by giving you steps to follow right away.

    Screenshot of WikiHow website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • Lynda.com

    Next is Lynda.com.  A video-training site, it has tutorials/classes on nearly everything as well.

    Screenshot of Lynda.com website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • Lynda.com

    Drilling down into what is available, you can see here a list of 15 courses available in the Developer category under the Advanced skill level.

    Screenshot of Lynda.com website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • GP Answers

    Group 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.

    Screenshot of GP Answers website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • GP Answers

    Here'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.

    Screenshot of GP Answers website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • MSDN

    Windows developers already know MSDN as a go-to site for documentation and code samples.  While it is geared toward developers, network and system administrators can also benefit from the information contained on this site.

    Screenshot of MSDN website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • MSDN

    For 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.

    Screenshot of MSDN website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • Mind Tools

    Mind 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.

    Screenshot of Mind Tools website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • Mind Tools

    Many 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.

    Screenshot of Mind Tools website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

WikiHow

This photo gallery is also available as a post in the Five Apps Blog.

While 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.

The 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.

Screenshot of WikiHow website by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

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