the best of 3

Unsurprisingly, there is a wealth of information about the subject of computers nestling right inside your computer itself, and here's my run down of the pick of the crop. I came across Computer History after I'd been searching around for about an hour, and what struck me about it was how much more interesting it looks than the dozens and dozens of mainly text-based sites you'll find if you use the search the words COMPUTERS HISTORY and MUSEUM. The navigation bar across the top makes exploring the pages as easy as pushing beads across an abacus - although it does disappear on some of the exhibits pages, presumably to make way for the exhibits, but I would have preferred not to have had to click the back button in order to carry on browsing. Fussy aren't I? Hover your mouse over the main headings to reveal a directory tree for each section. If you're planning a trip to Silicon Valley then you can visit this museum yourself, but the online exhibits section should give you more than enough historic information until you can get there. Two exhibition sections of particular note - the Curator's Choice, detailing some of the most important progressions in the science of computing; and This Day in History, which offers up a quick fact from either this day, or this week in the past.

The next site I've chosen in this category is an online lecture, something we're seeing more and more of these days. These lectures are usually designed as study-guides for students, but can make really interesting surfing for anyone. This lecture charts the entire history of Computing Science from the days when cavemen developed a primitive form of counting to mark the cycle of religious festivals and rituals using the moon, right up to modern-day computers, web technology and networking. The content isn't particularly deep - if you're an intermediate computer user, you may already know a lot of what's on these pages. But it's presented really well, with pictures and diagrams, and a really simple slide-show navigation style that allows you to concentrate on the information rather than wondering which button you're supposed to click next. The control icons are at the side of the page and at the bottom - very useful - and where you see the little exclamation mark icon the author has inserted links to further information on external websites, so you can continue browsing to your heart's content. There's even the occasional detour leading you off in another direction completely for a page or two, which I thought was a nice touch. According to the author there are still pages and sections to be added - I guess that's the problem with history, it's always in need of updating. Definitely worth a visit if you're looking for a palatable introduction to what is quite a hefty subject though.

From information that's bang up to date, to stuff that is obsolete now. If you can't get out to a real computer museum, then check out the Obsolete Computer Museum, the online resting ground for dignified old relics like my old ZX Spectrum. Those were the days! Let's face it, for those of us that got into this whole personal technology craze when it was still just a stumbling toddler, there's a lot of nostalgia surrounding classic 80's kit like this… or is it just me? Well, if you are a nostalgia fiend, on these pages you're bound to find that old computer you first cut your teeth on. Visitors to the site are encouraged to post comments and memories beneath each exhibit, which adds a really personal touch. There's normally several pictures and a little information from the owner of the original kit. Unfortunately, not many of the owners thought to include the date that the kit was bought in their information, which left me feeling a little disappointed - but reading down the posted comments quite often reveals the date in someone's musings about how or when they acquired their own. I liked the general graphic style too - in keeping with the subject matter, with the old circuit-board design down the left-hand side - and everything loaded really quickly, even the Java 3-D models, which are well worth a look by the way because it's always more rewarding when you can interact.

Well, after all that study, you're probably about ready to sit an exam now, right? OK, maybe not - but if you do fancy a chance to test out all your newly acquired knowledge then this online study-guide called Computers in History offers up a selection of questions that should get the old grey matter ticking over. A mixture of multiple choice and text based responses are needed. When you've finished you can click to check your answers and receive a grade. The grade is at the top of the page by the way, not very clear, under your name. Embarrassingly, I only got 72% when I took the test first time. Got 100% all the way thereafter though… I'll let you into a secret: the questions never change!

Our next website is a free Youth Portal aimed at active young Europeans. Supported by the European Commission, this site is aimed at young people between the ages of 15 and 25, enabling them to find information relevant to them about 'their' Europe, but also to voice their opinions, tell their stories, and feel involved actively as a part of Europe. Start off by clicking your chosen language. There's plenty of information about travelling, working and studying in Europe, in the blue Be Informed section on the left hand side - including many free download areas where you can get leaflets and brochures detailing different services and benefits that might be available to you. The green Get Involved section on the right-hand side, contains options to get chatting and sharing your experiences and stories with other European Youths. You'll obviously need to register before you can post, but that is standard practise these days. Reading the posts is generally permitted with no registration though, so you can still hear what other people are saying on the various youth issues of the day.

It's not just children who like to play games, so our final site today is another one of those directories of Flash animation games that will have you hooked for hours. Whilst we're used to seeing gorgeous flash games, it's not so usual to see such a classy menu system. Almost looking like a game itself, Orisinal lays out your options in a grid of picture icons that animate nicely when you roll your mouse cursor over them. You might notice that the grey text heading at the bottom of the grid changes as you move your mouse too, telling you the name of the game. It's very subtle, and I missed it at first - but I think this just adds style to the overall presentation. And the games are brilliant. Many that I haven't seen before. One of my favourites is Baun, the icon with the 4 coloured lights in the centre of the grid. It's a kind of cross between pinball and Tetris, where you have to destroy falling blocks of coloured bulbs by stretching a ball back and releasing it enough pressure to reach the blocks you want to destroy next.