Site For Sore Eyes Our Web guide to what's new, what's hot, what's helpful.

Forget get-rich-quick Web sites: Most businesses don't makea lot of money on the Web. Still, a good site can be a terrificmarketing vehicle. How can you make yours stand out from thecrowd?

Start by studying several of the "pick-of-the-weeksites" listed at the front doors of search engines likeExcite--then spruce up your own site. Most award-winning sites aresimple and well-structured, so visitors don't get lost. Thebest sites don't preach or boast. Rather, they seduce by beingintriguing, fun and full of useful information. The Chuck E. Cheesesite at http://www.chuckecheese.com, forexample, offers not just company information but also contests,promotions, links and a bulletin board for children.

Good sites also make it easy for users to reach the company.Make sure you list your company's phone number and e-mailaddress. Set up mutual links to other related sites, and make sureyour site is listed with search engines such as Alta Vista, Yahoo!and Lycos.

Finally, remember that building a site, like having a baby, isjust the beginning of the work. If you're not ready for thecommitment, you're probably better off without one.

Spam Scams

"Earn $100 an hour at home!" Sure, it's easy todismiss those brazen ads when we see them pasted on cork boards andtelephone poles. But when we see them on our private computerscreens, we fall for them.

According to the National Consumers' League, the averagenumber of reports of Net scams has risen from 32 per month in 1996to nearly 100 per month last year. And so-called "spam,"or unsolicited e-mail, is a favorite bait among cyberthieves.

The most common spam scams, according to the league's FraudInformation Center (http://www.fraud.org), are1) Internet and online services; 2) general merchandise;3) auctions; 4) pyramids and multilevel marketing;5) business opportunities and franchises; 6) work-at-homeschemes; 7) prizes and sweepstakes; 8) credit cardoffers; 9) book sales; and 10) magazinesubscriptions.

Auctions, chat rooms, bulletin boards and Usenet newsgroups arealso creeping with cybercrooks. Fully 30 percent of the foul-playreports received by the consumer-advocacy site Webguardian Inc.(http://www.webguardian.com) comefrom people who bought merchandise through these sources.

How do you protect yourself against online scams? By beingskeptical and only working with organizations you know and trust.Keep personal information to yourself. And whatever you do, steerclear of spam.

Search Party

Sick of sifting through useless Web sites? Try honing yoursearches. Before you start, read the help screens listed on thefront page of the search engine. These provide excellentinformation about the engine's search settings.

If you're searching by topic, try phrasing your search as ifit were the title of a book. For example, "Cake Baking"may turn up more useful links than, say, "Angel Food."However, if you're after a specific term, such as"Kauai," use that word alone. You can also put differentphrases in quotes ("Angel" "Food") or linkwords with a plus sign (Angel+Food) because this is how someengines search for connected terms.

Finally, use different search engines for different types ofsearches. If you're looking for a specific topic and know howto perform Boolean searches (connecting terms with AND, OR, orNEAR), an engine like Alta Vista can perform refined searches. Formore general information, Yahoo!, Excite or Infoseek may be abetter bet.

Time Bomb

The so-called millennium bug, which is expected to crashcomputer systems worldwide on January 1, 2000, isn't just abig-company problem. Sure, big businesses with millions of lines ofmainframe computer code have garnered the media's attention.But according to Lou Marcoccio, a research director at theStamford, Connecticut, research firm Gartner Group Inc., 10 percentof all businesses--mostly those with fewer than 2,000employees--could lose business, have production stalled and facelawsuits from angry customers.

The big problem for small businesses is the place they occupy inthe food chain of suppliers and vendors. When the computers atcompanies on whom we depend go down, supplies could dry up andchecks could stop. By comparison, the effects of last year'sUPS strike could be considered trivial.

What can you do? Get an upgrade if your software can'thandle a year date beyond 2000. (PCs older than Pentiums will needto be checked, but Macintoshes can handle dates up to 2019 orbeyond.) Most important, contact clients and suppliers to find outwhen they'll be year 2000-ready. And stick some money under amattress, just in case.

Can We Talk?

Homebased entrepreneurs often envy their corporate counterpartsfor one simple reason: their dedicated computer networks.Fortunately, a new service from Netscape and Concentric Networkscalled Netscape Virtual Office makes it possible for at-homeworkers to collaborate with far-flung colleagues, clients andsuppliers over a private network.

Virtual Office sets you up with an Internet account that becomesyour private "corporate intranet." Since the network issecure, others can't break into it: You let Netscape knowwho's allowed "in." The service comes with e-mail,Web-authoring software that works like a word processor, a toolthat lets you set up an electronic bulletin board, and asoon-to-be-available network calendar.

You can get Virtual Office by contacting Netscape at(650) 937-3777. Prices vary widely--from $10 to $249 a month,depending on the kind of connection you have, the number of usersand the amount of disk space you'll need on Netscape'sservers. But even at the top of the line, the price beats that ofmost plane tickets--and getting in touch is a lot quicker.

First Aid

When you have computer headaches, there's an alternative toendless phone holds for tech support. Provided your computer'smodem and monitor are still working, the answer to your problem maybe found somewhere in cyberspace.

Before you start surfing, write down a description of theproblem--if you received an error message, make sure you take noteof the kind and number. Also, check the cables linking the monitor,computer and power supply to make sure everything's plugged inand turned on.

Next, visit the technical support section of themanufacturer's Web site, where you may find FAQs, technicaltips and downloadable fixes. If you don't find what you'reafter, you can search online bulletin boards, starting with theUsenet FAQs List (http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html).If your modem isn't working but you have access to a faxmachine, you can call the manufacturer and choose its fax-backservice.

To ward off future problems, consider buying computer healthinsurance courtesy of CyberMedia Inc.'s $59.95 First Aid Deluxe'98. This software product automatically detects and fixes morethan 10,000 configuration problems, warns you about upcominghardware troubles, and searches the Internet for fixes.

Contact Sources

Cybermedia Inc., http://www.cybermedia.com

Gartner Group Inc., http://www.gartner.com

Bronwyn Fryer, a computer journalist in Santa Cruz,California, has covered technology since 1982.