Richard J.

Every driver should bookmark this site. It's useful in two ways: (1) It will locate the cheapest local or en route gas sources, and (2) It will tell you what the gas used in a contemplated trip will cost. I use it primarily for (2), and in the process I also learn the number of miles of my trip.

In order to get accurate results, I need to submit an online form detailing what vehicle I drive and its year, and which grade of gas I buy (and of course my starting and ending points). Or I could enter my gas mileage if I know it.

A minor downside is that as of now GasBuddy will not retain information that I give it, so I theoretically could have to spend a fair amount of time refilling the form every time I want GAsBuddy's help for a new trip. In practice however your form filler or password manager (such as RoboForm) should save your data for you and remove that necessity.

This is the best online source for meanings of acronyms and initialisms (wisely not distinguished in its listings)--but it's burdened by problems that could easily be corrected:

(a) Its organizational structure is needlessly opaque. Translations of each abbreviation are arranged in columns according to usage categories [Information Technology, Business & Finance, etc.]. The first column, formatted a bit differently, is headed "All definitions." The user is led to believe that this is simply a restatement in one place of the various definitions in the other columns, but this is not the case. (For example, the common meaning of ABS as antilock braking system is found only in the "All" column.) The site should either [1] have the "All" column reflect exactly what may be seen in the other columns, or [2] rename it "All other" (or similar), and have it reflect only what may not be seen in the other columns.

(b) Confusion is proliferated by the site's introductory statement, "Find out what any acronym, abbreviation, or initialism stands for." In fact, Acronymfinder understandably makes no attempt to define the thousands of abbreviations that are neither acronyms nor initialisms.

(c) A disturbingly high number of the links found in its expository pages lead nowhere--including a link that appears in several contexts to its contact or feedback page. In view of its boast, "100% human-edited by paid staff," one wonders why a member of this staff could not take the few minutes to use one of the many free online tools that will easily track down such dead or broken links.

This help site, like many others, offers advice provided by users. The help concerns issues with one of the listed online and offline companies, of which there is a huge number. Unlike the competition, the site materially rewards those who answer the questions.

The quality of the answers provided at the site has improved markedly since the site's early days. At this time many of the answers are exceedingly helpful. I submit many answers myself [as "Odin"] and folks can completely rely on my answers--but I see as well an impressive amount of valuable information submitted by others, and only a tiny number of answers that are off-base. This may be the result of HelpOwl's [perhaps too much] in screening both questions and answers.

My reading of the negative reviews here has been a revelation to me--not about Help Owl but about the strange ideas of some Sitejabber reviewers, One says, "These people will try to smooth talk you into a deal"--Help Owl doesn't make deals. Another says, "Helpowl does not credit account"--but in over 10 years I've always received prompt credit, which if claimed on a Thursday will be awarded the next day. Another talks about a "good faith deposit," but HelpOwl never demands deposits at all.

If you answer questions, compensation is in the form of gift cards from your choice of listed providers. Each accepted answer is worth currently about 20 cents at Amazon or Walmart.com, somewhat less at iCard. If the questioner does not accept an answer, the site will after several days accept what it considers the first good answer, for the same reward.

PLUSES:

1. Compensation. This is negligible for questioners but can add up well for answerers.

2. Wide choice of companies about which you can submit questions and answers.

3. Personal notification of questions about your selected companies and websites.

4. Helpful information.

MINUSES:

1. Staff review of answers not accepted by questioners is too often inept.

2. Questions are deleted for unexplained reasons, even occasionally after answers are submitted.

2. Support is patchy. Some support questions will be answered; others will be ignored.

3. Probably as a result of the site's promotional practices, a great many questioners believe they are asking help directly of the subject companies.

UPDATE. Same star rating, but I thought I should mention that the awarding of points/credits is off base. Help Owl considerately does publicly track the points awarded to the top contributors--and it's annoying that one whose answers are wrong [not accepted] close to half the time can rate higher (in the 15-day count) than one whose answers are accepted close to 90% of the time. This system rewards answerers who give little thought to correctness in favor of quantity, and thereby compromise the reliability of the site.

Firefox is a pleasure to work with. Its big advantage over its competitors is the availability of over 5,000 tweaks ("add-ons") that will meet virtually anyone's needs or desires. If you're particular but not willing to look into its add-ons, Firefox may not be for you.

Regarding technical support: Fx's support, although not available by phone, far exceeds that of the also popular Internet Explorer. Beyond basic support (available at support.mozilla.org), Fx users will in my experience almost always provide all the help required, at forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=38.

These days almost any browser will will include a built-in pop-up blocker. Even the best however will let pass ads that are not pop-ups and some pop-ups as well.

Free Adblock Plus will handle those persistent ads, and also comparably irritating social media buttons. A useful extra is its option for automatically correcting typos in your address bar, to spare you from visiting unwanted and possibly dangerous websites. It's currently available for the Firefox, Chrome, and Opera browsers.

Three hints:

1. For top usefulness, download Adblock Plus's Element Hiding Helper (also free).

2. You'll probably want to disable ABP's permission for "acceptable" ads, easily done.

3. No ad blocker will deal satisfactorily with the ever-changing display ads you'll often see down the right side of a page. For this annoyance I recommend another free utility, Clearly [evernote.com/clearly]. Clearly will work with Firefox and Chrome.

All our computers' clocks are almost certainly off by small amounts. In addition to giving you the exact time, this page tells me the amount by which my computer's clock is ahead or behind.

First of all, I need to take issue with previous reviewer Ian's panning of this site on the basis of its privacy policy. I invite readers to review that policy, at https://privnote.com/privacy/. I see no problem with it whatsoever, and I've written Ian repeatedly in the hope he would share with me his concerns, but I've received no response.

I recommend Privnote as a free alternative to paid by-subscription email tracking services, which I've found to be worthless or worse (worse because of misplaced reliance the user may place on them). Instead of tracking your email, Privnote tracks when the recipient reads a note to which she's referred by a special link you include in the message.

Privnote promotes itself as a means to send notes that "self-destruct," and that's true enough. In my view, though, its value lies, as mentioned, in its tracking capability. A secondary benefit is the air of importance assumed by a private note that can be seen only via the link.

The self-destruct feature can be marginally useful if you want to be sure nobody else has read your note. And before the note's been read you can use that feature to cancel the note, should you have second thoughts.

This review is of www.objectgraph.com/dictionary. If you type the Web address as displayed here by SiteJabber (ending with ". Com"), you'll be directed elsewhere.

Even though you get to this site by ending the URL with "/dictionary," I don't really recommend this as a dictionary. Believe it or not, the source dictionary is almost 100 years out of date!

I recommend this site as what I've found to be the best *thesaurus* on the Web. To find a word with similar meaning, you have to be in Thesaurus mode (see below). Then start typing the word in the search box. Once objectgraph identifies your word, it will provide you a huge number or related words, bound to include one that will meet your needs.

If you want a definition of that word (or any word), just switch from Thesaurus to Classic (for the classic 1913 dictionary), and follow the same procedure. Or you could switch to another reference, such as FOLDOC (Free Online dictionary of Computing). Same search box for every reference,

The only major downside is that as of this writing the site is set to Classic by default. That means that to use it as a thesaurus you'll always have to switch to Thesaurus mode, using the menu on the right. It's just one click, but it is an inconvenience.

Owner Gavi Narra has told me that he will change the default behavior to select the previous choice (ordinarily in my case, Thesaurus).

There are many form creator websites, and I've looked at a dozen or more, but FormMail wins hands-down. I've used it now for about 8 years. You can see one of my FormMail forms at http://formmailto.com/freeforallreg.

First consider the price. There are free form creators, but in my experience they're worth what you pay for them. They're typically exceedingly limited, and will produce amateurish results. Some will give you a better product if you pay for a premium version, at a price much higher than FormMail's. Others are too hard to work with. FormMail is nearly free -- per month only a dollar per form! (FormMail has in the past offered a completely free version, with advertising, and you may see a reference to the free version on its website.)

I frankly don't know how FormMail provides what it does for the tiny amount it charges. It seems that the owner, Roger, treats it as a hobby rather than a business. The various options should meet any needs. Documentation is extensive. You don't really need to know HTML, although a basic knowledge is helpful. A huge plus is the level of support you get for your one dollar. With rare exceptions it'll take only a day or so to get any help you might need.

You don't have to pay even the tiny cost until you've successfully created your form and have decided you want to use it.

There are two downsides. First, you have to pay via PayPal, which I don't like. (See my PayPal review.) Second, you have to "subscribe" for 6 months at a time, with opt-out renewal. The 6 months are certainly fair, but I try to steer clear of any opt-out payments.

All in all, however, I strongly recommend FormMail if you need to create a professional-looking form.

Some sites can infect your computer just by your landing on them! Even when that doesn't happen, following a site's links can cause serious problems. Enter the Web address here, and URLVoid will instantly scan for safety with TrendMicro Web Reputation, Norton SafeWeb, Web of Trust, and 14 similar services.

If you can always check the date easily with a nearby print calendar, you may not need this website. Otherwise, you may find it invaluable in your "Links" or Bookmarks Toolbar. Refreshing it with F5 will highlight today's date. Includes a calculate function, for periods between dates.

This review is of the "USP Verified Dietary Supplements" page, which you can reach directly at www.usp.org/USPVerified/dietarySupplements/supplements.html.

We all want to be sure the nutritional supplements we buy are acceptably pure and potent. To this end some shell out $33 a year to ConsumerLab.com for results of its periodic surveys. In most cases, however, a wiser course is to get completely reliable information here at no charge, from the venerable U.S. Pharmacopoeia. A plus is that you can also find out where to buy the listed products.

(It's true that USP charges the companies for its seal. The fact is, however, that some very inexpensive brands, e.g. Nature Made and Kirkland Signature, carry the USP seal.)

This review of the Better Business Bureau (of particular interest to SiteJabber followers) concerns the BBB's service in reviewing businesses for consumers. You can get to that service directly at www.bbb.org/us/Find-Business-Reviews.

As a result of outside pressure, the BBB claims it no longer considers BBB fee-paid "accreditation" in its ratings. However, the review pages for each non-accredited business will include three (3) prominent mentions of that status, which you should ignore.

Considerations that the BBB says it does apply include BBB complaint history, business duration, government actions, and questionable advertising. BBB will also downgrade if a company fails to provide to the BBB complete information, if the BBB has revoked accreditation, or if the nature of the business is suspect.

The BBB also has a link for consumer reviews (not to be confused with consumer complaints), which do not seem to figure into its ratings.

BBB ratings are a helpful resource in evaluating a company, but should not be relied on exclusively. ConsumerSearch (see my separate SiteJabber review) reflects a huge number of consumer reviews from across the Web, and would be a good supplement to BBB ratings.

Those thinking of switching credit cards or adding one will find this well-organized comprehensive site an excellent place to get the "low" down. Covers over 1050 cards. (Note: Removing a credit card will usually have a negative impact on your credit rating. Adding a new one will have a similar impact at once, but over the long haul may raise your credit rating as a result of your lower utilization of available credit.)

Where will you get the best deals on your favorite groceries? You don't have to visit the stores or even phone, to find out. This site will instantly compare current prices for you, by individual items or by category. It'll at your option send you email alerts of price reductions, and provides product nutritional information and coupons.

This is the government's attempt at a one-stop healthcare destination. It includes highly readable information about over 5,000 plans, public and private, and covers other issues, like prevention and facility comparisons. There's a section on free and low-cost care. The site is probably the best source to learn about the changes (current and future) resulting from the Affordable Care Act, the health care reform law fostered by Pres. Obama.

With one search box this site will initiate any of 12 Google searches plus 127 others (more promised). Especially useful for folks who like a particular search engine but don't want to be limited, or may want to see different sets of search results, which can in fact vary quite a bit. Note that a recent study by the Hitwise marketing service indicates that Bing users achieve a "success rate" substantially higher than Google users, even though Goggle continues to be the most popular search engine.

(Mrqery references Bing under its old name of Live.)

Three dozen types of personal and business apologies, including an all-purpose apology letter. Copy and paste, then modify to suit.

Since I check my email many times a day I find that the best way to schedule upcoming tasks and events is to receive the reminders in my inbox. Of course I could send myself an ordinary email, but I couldn't arrange future delivery.

I've tried numerous email reminder services, and Nudgemail is the walk-away winner. You don't even have to sign up. You just specify the date and/or time of arrival in the To line, to end *******@nudgemail.com. And of course if you want to put off a task further, you need only forward the message with a new To line. Use the "Snooze" function to be reminded in an hour, or any of various other options. Unlike some of the free competition, the message will arrive with the subject of your choice (often a subject will be all you need).

Nudgemail's major drawback is that your reminders aren't editable. It's simple however to delete a reminder: just send back your confirmation email with "Remove" in the subject. And you can easily re-send with a modification.

Nonprofit and nonpartisan, this site endeavors to disclose the "real story" behind what's happening in Congress, using sources like government data, news coverage, and public comments. Especially handy for researching bills, tracking votes, and emailing your representatives.