And so I found myself robotically answering his questions as the chairlift continued to whisk us uphill. “Yes, version 3.0 this” “No, it’s not normal when that pops up every day.” “No, we don’t fix computers; we design and build websites.”

As we began to near the end of our ride the fellow leaned over and asked, “So. If you could only, say, choose ONE technology or tech-related-thing that you could use, what would it be? What’s your favorite technology??”

I quickly looked over at him. My grin faded as I discovered that he was, indeed, truly expecting an actual answer from me. I sighed but figured it would be more polite to respond than it would be to turn my music back on and ignore him for the last 30 seconds of our chair ride.

I sat in silence for a moment pondering how I could possibly provide an even semi-coherent answer in response to such an odd, uncomfortably vague question.

Pictures of online tools and blindingly-fast processors and super-wide-screen monitors and shiny iPhones and GPS gadgets and the like flashed through my mind. Yet nothing I visualized struck me as something I couldn’t possibly live without.

I remained quiet and in thought as we neared the end of our lift ride. The bar came up. The fellow continued to stare at me, waiting for my response.

And then,just like that, I knew exactly how to answer his question.

“Well,” I said as he raised his eyebrows expectantly. “In all honesty, if I could only choose ONE thing… I’d have to say that I’d choose that fancy technology they use at SureFoot down at the base there in Center Village. You know – they have those fancy scanners and they make custom footbeds for you? THAT technology makes it so I can have a super good time when I’m out here, way more so than I used to be able to. And to me, seriously, that’s way more important than iPhones and iPads and all those things. So yeah, that would have to be my answer. That’s my favorite technology. You really should go try it yourself. Plus all those guys are super nice in there and they help you out, so it’s really cool. You’d love it. I do. I mean, it lets me have way more fun, and that’s why I live here, you know?”

As we stood up and rode down the mellow slope away from the lift I glanced over at the fellow. He was frowning. Actually, it was more like he was … scowling. He went left, I went right. And I had an awesome run thanks to my most favorite technology.

To the inexperienced, the concept of fixing broken links may seem tedious. In fact, I know many people who once assumed that to address the issue, one had to go through a website and manually click every single individual link, one by one, to determine which needed to be fixed. Nonsense.

Head over to the handy-dandy link checker right here: http://validator.w3.org/checklink and pop your website’s address into the field at the top of the page. Check the “hide redirects” box, then click the big Check button below.

If your website is a large one, go grab yourself a cup of coffee and come back in a bit.

Once the link checker has finished up its work, you’ll have yourself a nice little broken link report telling you exactly which (if any) links in your website need fixin’. Easy as cake. (Now go fix your links before you frustrate more of your website’s visitors!)

Here’s a quick overview video: http://tinyurl.com/bcajka, the link where you can download the Extension: http://tinyurl.com/2cd87q, and the official Adblock website: http://adblockplus.org.

Remember, this is a tool that you can take advantage of only if you’re using Firefox as your web browser.

Give it a shot and see if it makes your web-browsing experience more enjoyable. If you don’t like it, simply uninstall it in Firefox by going to Tools > Addons > Extensions and clicking “Uninstall.”

Did you provide a useful overview of your company’s history on your site’s About Us page? Great! But don’t stop there. Tell visitors that, now they know more about your fantastic company, they should check out your list of services and products by clicking this link … or that they should now fill out your convenient online form to schedule an appointment with one of your brilliant associates.

Don’t let your visitors read through a section of your site’s information and then wonder, “Okay, so … now what? Am I supposed to order this product? Do I have to call in for a consultation? Do they even have an office location near me?” Provide a bit of guidance and a gentle helping hand to show people around your site and encourage them to take the action(s) you want them to take.

Craiglook helps make your Craigslist searches more efficient by allowing you to:

• specify your search radius
• enter your minimum and maximum prices
• see how far away your results items are located
• view sellers’ phone numbers without having to visit individual listings
• skim through the convenient image previews

Give it a shot and leave a comment — let me know what you think.

Question #1: I fill out quite a few online forms. It’s very annoying when there are many fields in these forms and once I type in my answer, I have to click my mouse to move to the next field. Is there a more efficient method of completing online forms that I’m not aware of? And while I’m asking about online forms, is there any difference between the square checkboxes and the circular buttons I can click on in these forms??

Answer: It’s actually very easy to move from field to field in online forms without having to use your mouse. The secret weapon? The “TAB” button on your keyboard.

Let’s say the first field of the form I’m filling is “FIRST NAME.” I type in the letters e-r-i-n. Then, instead of reaching for my mouse and clicking in the next field (most likely “LAST NAME”), I simply reach my left pinky finger up a bit and press down on the TAB key. And voila, the cursor is now blinking and patiently waiting inside the “LAST NAME” field, waiting for me to type in my information.

As a bonus, I’ll let you know a little secret about checkboxes as well. You can “TAB” from one checkbox to the next, and when you want to check/select a checkbox, simply hit the spacebar on your keyboard. The same tip works for radio buttons (the official name of those little circles you asked about).

Now let’s move on to an explanation of the difference between the checkboxes and radio buttons. When you see a list of options next to checkboxes, it means you can select more than one of those options. When you see a list of options next to radio buttons, it means you can select only one option.

I’ll put this explanation into an example. Let’s say you come across a question in an online form asking you which days of the week you prefer going to the gym. There will probably be a list of all the days of the week sitting next to some checkboxes, and you’ll be allowed to select whichever (and as many) checkboxes you wish.

On the other hand, you may come across a question in an online form asking you to select your favorite type of ice cream. Next to each option you see an empty circle (these are the radio buttons we’ve been talking about). Since this question uses radio buttons, you can select only one flavor of ice cream as your favorite. If you’re in a fickle mood and mark the radio button next to Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip–but then change your mind and mark the radio button next to Strawberry Decadence, the first radio button will deselect (become empty) as you can only have one radio button selected at a time.

It’s a good thing you don’t have to remember this; the forms handle it all for you; I just wanted to make sure you understood the difference.

Question #2: I have an absolutely filthy mouse that’s starting to “stick,” and I’m not sure as to how I should go about cleaning it up. Any pointers?

Answer: Cleaning your mouse is super simple. Just remember: DO NOT use any harsh or abrasive chemicals on during the cleaning process.

First rotate the ball container (sometimes known as the “locking ring”) to open up the mouse. Then place the ball onto a cleaning cloth and wipe it off, gently removing grime and dirt. A solution of 80% water and 20% alcohol works just fine.

Then use your fingernails to scrape the rollers inside the mouse to remove buildup—but be careful not to bend any of them. Then just pop the ball back into the mouse, screw the cover up, wipe down the top of your mouse, and you’re done.

A neat tip I recently learned allows you to easily remove every single one of those active, blue, underlined links from your Word document–no matter how long your document is. To remove all the links, first hit Ctrl+A to select all the text in your document. After you’ve let go of the Ctrl and A keys, press Ctrl-Shift-F9. Done.

If you’d like to keep Word from auto-hyperlinking text in the future, just click on Tools in the menu at the top of the screen and select AutoCorrect Options. Next, click the tab that reads “AutoFormat as You Type“. Once you’ve made sure that the box next to “Internet and network paths with hyperlinks” is unchecked, go ahead and click the AutoFormat tab and clear that same checkbox again.

You’re now good to go.