ActiveWin.com has quite an impressive pedigree, yet it still has something for all levels of users, including the new and intermediate users. Stein says some visitors only use specific areas of the site to locate general product information or the latest Microsoft news. These users, Stein says, are “not necessarily out to change the world through expert technology.”

They may be out to change how their computer functions, however. Beyond the latest dish on Microsoft’s product line or driver releases, beginning and midlevel computer users likely will find the FAQs section tremendously helpful for navigating their OS. Stein also points to the site’s Support Center as a useful place for new users because it “provides a list of handy links that most people who are having computer problems would find resourceful,” he says.


  Site Blueprint

Navigating ActiveWin.com isn’t difficult, although there are places throughout where an obvious link to the home page would be helpful. Despite this minor annoyance, the site’s layout is fairly straightforward. The left margin menu lists all the components of the site: User Controls, Active Network, News Centers, ANet Chats!, FAQs, Latest Reviews, and Site News/Info. Each component offers a lengthy submenu, which catapults the reader to a new area.

User Controls. New users can register here and return later to edit their profile. Registration is required only for posting in the forums and participating in the ANet Chats!. Anonymous users may surf the rest of the site freely. Although the registration form has many fields, you are required to only fill in three areas: User Name, Password, and Retype Password.

Active Network. This component houses the mother lode of ActiveWin.com’s resources. It links to Active Network’s pages on DVD, Mac, Hardware, Xbox, DirectX, and Microsoft Games and Hardware, to name just a few. For some fun, take a gander at the ActiveDVD section. It has great information on upcoming DVD releases, as well as basic suggestions on DVD use and care. Most entertaining is the Easter Eggs section, which tells you about hidden features you can find on many DVDs.

Downloads, Interviews, and Tips & Tricks are also located in the Active Network section. Click the Downloads link and Active Network’s File Explorer page opens. ActiveWin.com touts this page as “the most activated file download resource.” Available downloads are separated into categories, grouped according to Internet Programs and File Utilities. Click a category to see the available downloads along with their descriptions, prices, publishers, and file sizes and types.

Stein recommends that people visit the Interviews link because of its unique behind-the-scenes look at the giant company. “You can take a close look at real Microsoft employees at work and not just another press release,” he says. “The interviews give some interesting insight on the company.”

Tips & Tricks is an obvious draw, particularly for users who want to optimize their system or who want to perform a particular task. The top of the page offers a “Tip of the Day,” such as “To avoid rust and bad connections, do not touch bare computer wires or connectors with wet or sweaty hands.” That could be sage advice for areas of life even beyond computers.

Underneath such helpful tidbits is TopTechTips, which is regularly updated. On the left side of the screen, the site lists the various Tip Sections: Windows, Apple, PDAs, Internet Browsers, Office, and Misc. Click a section to view the related topics. For example, the Office section offers tips for each of the programs available within the Microsoft Office suite.

The Active Network component also includes the essential Support Center, which offers users everything from current Microsoft product rebates to product service packs. Although much of this content is available at the Microsoft Web site, you may find these pages easier to navigate. In the Support Center pages, you’ll also find phone numbers to various Microsoft Support lines and links to other Microsoft Web pages that offer assistance.

News Centers. ActiveWin.com brings the latest-breaking news for Windows/Microsoft, DVD, Apple/Mac, Hardware, Xbox, and more. In fact, Stein attributes much of the site’s growth to its news section, crediting “some breaks with news stories along the way” with helping get ActiveWin.com’s name out in the Windows and Microsoft community.

ActiveWin.com developers update news items frequently throughout the day. In sections with several days of news listed, articles appear in reverse chronological order. The headline is a link to the source, but Active Network offers succinct and pithy summaries to convey the story’s nuts and bolts. The time the item was posted is also included. Interested readers may click a Comment Here! link to add or read user remarks regarding the news piece. The most surprising thing may be how often Microsoft is in the news on a given day. For example, one day in September, we found more than 20 items listed in the Windows/Microsoft section.

ANet Chats. The Chat feature is the only aspect of ActiveWin that may truly frustrate users, particularly new or intermediate-level computer users. As with the Forums, the ANet Chats! area is only open to registered users. However, this area employs unsigned ActiveX controls. For many users, these unsigned ActiveX controls hamper the display of the chat controls. It is possible to adjust the browser security levels so the browser prompts you before downloading ActiveX controls, rather than disallowing them completely. Unfortunately, this alone may not solve the problem. Firewalls and other security measures also may prohibit unsigned ActiveX controls.

The site owners offer a guarantee that the ActiveX controls are safe and cite prohibitive cost as the reason the controls remain unsigned. They do offer a setup application for download, but it too may require you to do some extra fiddling in security files and online. If you don’t want to do the extra legwork required to make the Chat feature work, then consider participating in the Forums section instead.

FAQs. The FAQ section is broken into two categories: Windows-Related Frequently Asked Questions and Other Frequently Asked Questions. The former includes sections on each Microsoft OS, as well as versions 5.0 and 6.0 of IE, and DirectX. The Other section covers a variety of topics, including the Microsoft Xbox, USB (Universal Serial Bus), FAT32, and Games Cheats.

Latest Reviews. Active Networks offers extensive reviews of hardware, software, and games. Site designers recently added a few reviews of Macintosh applications, as well. The reviews are well-written, and they also include screen shots, handy comparison charts, and other useful graphics. Older reviews are archived, but you can access them by clicking the Older Archived Reviews link on the Latest Reviews page.

Site News/Info. This component houses links to contact information, news sources, member Web pages, and more. The Site Map feature may be of interest for users who like a quick look at what a site has to offer.
 

  Forum Shopping

 

Across the top of any ActiveWin page is a menu that lists hot spots to check out, including Reviews, News, and Forums. The ActiveWin logo on the home page also offers a link to Forums. The Forums page is the place to be. The community of users seem quick to jump in to help new visitors with problems and suggestions. It’s also the place, as Stein says, where new users can simply “chew the fat about the latest news of the day.”
 

ActiveWin’s forums cover an exhaustive list of potential problems. If you can’t find a subject you’re looking for in named threads, or if your problem doesn’t fit any of those categories, drop by The Lobby and pose your question there. Or use the handy Search feature in the top right of the main Forums page.

The Forums, like much of the site, are organized by category and then topic. The main categories include Active Network Forums, which act as a type of grab bag; and Active Win, with topics on every Windows OS (except for Windows 3.1), future OS releases, and IE. It’s also home to chatter on Beta News/Rumor Mill, 

Bug Reports, Development, and Tips & Tricks. Conversations on MSN/Messenger, Office, and Games & Gaming also have a place here. The Windows XP topic alone houses more than 1,800 threads.

Other main categories include the very newly created ActiveMac forum, a busy ActiveXbox forum, and ActiveDVD. Finally, Active Networks has a forum dedicated to Beta Talk.

Browsing the forum is open to all users. However, if you want to post in the Forums area, you must be a registered user.


 

  Next Up

ActiveWin.com has added information on each new version of Windows as Microsoft releases it. The same is true for other Microsoft products. Stein says Active Networks intends to continue on this path, but he anticipates a few other additions.

“Recently we added a Mac news section which is totally different from anything we have had in the past,” he says. Developers are also planning a site redesign, based on the .NET  architecture, in the next year. Whatever changes are afoot, Active Networks remains committed to providing the best Windows resources.

Microsoft lists ActiveWin.com as a resource for users, so it’s clear the company values Active Networks’ contribution to the online community. Microsoft’s WinXP site describes ActiveWin.com as “technologically advantaged individuals with information and concepts to share.” That’s putting it mildly. If you use Windows, a comprehensive resource such as ActiveWin.com deserves a spot in your Favorites.  
 

by Anne Steyer Phelps