The horror of Tuesday September 11 became real for web•Wiz when, over the left shoulder of the CNN reporter trying to make sense of what was happening in Washington, a huge cloud of smoke rose in the distance. Then in a few moments we realised that the South Tower had collapsed and all hope of rescuing those still in that tower was lost. The time was now 11:50 pm (Australian time). Half an hour later, the North Tower collapsed. In only an hour and a half, our world had become a different place in which we live.

It may seem difficult to be able to do anything for those who've lost loved ones but let the Internet help you make some contribution, even if it's only to light a memorial candle and leave a message of condolence. Many other sites let you find out information or discuss with others or make a financial donation. If you're not sure where to start, go to Kottke's Weblog of September 11 to see his recommendations.

In August, the personal computer's 20th anniversary was celebrated. Well, to be more specific, IBM's manufactured PC was first sold to the general public twenty years ago.

There were several personal computers already available in the 1970's - Apple enthusiasts will remind us all of the Apple I and II. The Retrocomputing site is a good site to see all the various makes and models that were made before 1981 - maybe names such as Atari, Tandy, Radio Shack and Commodore will bring back memories.

School holiday time is not the time to be talking about learning and study sites, web•Wiz can hear some readers saying. However, with more time on their hands and less pressure, some students might like to follow up on some sites to add to their resources for next term's work.

Newseum's front pages from many international newspapers and the NewspaperLinks site shouldn't be too much strain for the holidays. So you can easily check new additions to the web•Directory, just click on Recent additions to web•Directory under Web•Updates on the main page.

Hotmail, the free web-based email service, has had a change of appearance. Although there were complaints initially from some long-time users, the menu structure enables you to more easily get your work done. web•Wiz has found that quicker access to often-used addresses on the Compose page and the junk mail filter make email handling more pleasant.

Although you're restricted to about 2Mb of space for your email, users of MSN Explorer can save some mail on their local hard disk for offline access. If you use Outlook Express, you can tie your inboxes together - see Hotmail help for the steps to follow.

After you enter your frequently used email addresses in the Address Book, turn on the Junk Filter to prevent most spammers cluttering your inbox. Also, make use of different folders to sort your mail and keep things tidy.

Not enough is written to encourage us all to organise where we store our files on our computers. Now that Windows includes a "My Documents" folder automatically, let's make use of it to the full.

There's no reason why you can't create folders within "My Documents" - in fact, you should. For example, if you're a prolific letter writer, then create a folder in "My Documents" called "Letters". Under "Letters", you may want to organise other sub-folders, perhaps for letters to certain people or letters written each month for a particular year. If you're uncertain about how to create a folder, you'll find instructions in Windows Help.

Many moons ago, web•Wiz got carried away with a programming project and went flat out to type it all into the computer. Then he noticed after a couple of days that the backs of his hands were very tired - he had his first experience of what we now call RSI. As has always been the case, RSI is a controversial subject - but it's real, as many typists, along with web•Wiz, can tell you.

A number of documents have been released in the U.S. that describe some of the science and technology projects that the C.I.A. has undertaken since 1947. It's worth a read and look for the story about the Acoustic Kitty which had a listening device implanted to pick up conversations.

An attractive site for freeware and shareware is 5-Star Shareware. Available shareware downloads are classified into convenient headings and there are about 400 freeware programs.

Finally, an easy rule to follow for email attachments: delete immediately! Unless you have a specific arrangement with a particular person for email attachments to be posted to you, delete them immediately. Part of the agreement with somebody posting you attachments must be that the name and size of the file is given in the body of the post, otherwise follow the rule.