If you use a Macintosh computer to tour the Internet, read email, and whip out letters and to-do lists, you know how intuitive Apple has made its computers and how seldom you are inclined to toss your machine out a nearby window.

Thanks to the Internet, help for those rare moments of frustration is often only a click away.

Want to track the currency of your favorite software package? Stop by Version Tracker and go to the Macintosh section to check. You can even list all your software, and the site will notify you when upgrades become available.

Get an error message from Apple with one of those inscrutable numbers? Check out Apple Error Codes to see, for example, what -36 means. You can always google the problem to decipher a fix on your own. Or you can try for free online tech support

Tired of mousing around the page and want some keyboard shortcuts? Just visit >a href=”http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343” Apple keyboard shortcuts at the Apple site. And while you are there, stop by the Apple store to scope out the available models as well as peripherals and software you can purchase at the site.

You can even find an exhaustive history of Apple and its computers at several sites, including this Low-End Mac page site.

One software suggestion: if you are constantly losing little pieces of paper with passwords written on them, check out an inexpensive software program called Web Confidential that records and encrypts your passwords until you need them.

And when it is time for some close-to-home help, stop by our Mactutor & Service site.

Sharon Shaw works with Authorized Apple Service Provider and business owner Melanie McDonald at MacTutor & Service in Southern Pines.

For seniors, the net has supplied us with access to so many basic resources that it is hard to remember when we trolled to the library or hung on the telephone for long minutes waiting for an assist.

Let’s consider some basic kinds of resources that are useful to those of us over 50.

For starters, how about the U.S. Social Security link for getting a new card, checking benefits, and obtaining other info. Then when SS is settled, check out Benefits Checkup to make certain you are getting all the benefits to which you are entitled.

If you are a joiner and like lobbying organizations, go here to visit the AARP site or here for the Alliance for Retired Americans.

How about checking out a Senior Law site if you are a caregiver or have an issue dealing with elder law?

And for health and medicines, get information on a variety of health conditions at the senior health section of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. For similar information from other perspectives, take a look at the Mayo Clinic site and Medicine Net. For user suggested health resources from dmoz, the open health network, go here.

And to check how all those drugs interact, check out The Drug Interaction Checker.

And for fun, take a look at Senior Travel Sites, and if you are single and looking, check out Senior Dating Sites.

Finally, want to know what the U.S. Congress is doing with legislation? Visit Thomas, the section of the Library of Congress site that tracks Congressional movement on pending legislation.

Have a fave site for seniors? Send it on to us so we can post it or leave a comment and a link!