If you've ever used Microsoft's online support knowledge base, you know how much information is available there, and how hard it can be to find information you're looking for. On top of that, how are you to know when new articles are added about the technologies that you care about?

For a few years now, I have used a free online service called KBAlertz to keep track of KB articles that are released about the Microsoft servers and apps I deal with every day. I get email notifications whenever new KB information is published in areas like Office, Exchange, SharePoint, SQL, LCS, Windows Server, Windows XP - you name it. Whatever topics you choose, you can stay informed.

There are three primary ways to get the info you want and need from KBAlertz: Browsing/searching, email and RSS feeds.

Personally, I subscribe to the site's email alerts and get them on a regular basis whenever new items that match my criteria are discovered. The digest-formatted HTML emails contain all the new articles since the last check, and are nicely formatted and easy to use.

For a few key technologies I also subscribe to feeds in my RSS reader, FeedDemon, where I can easily catalog and search through them.

For example, let's say I am interested (as I am) in keeping on top of all the latest knowledge base info about IIS 6. This web page lists the latest articles, and this  button, which you find at the top of each technology's page, let's me subscribe to the IIS 6 RSS feed for new updates.

Signing up for the email alertz is easy and it's free - just quickly create an account and start checking the boxes next to the topics you are interested in. You can choose from the whole gamut of Microsoft technologies.

The Microsoft Knowledge base is cool, and it's a great source of info. KBAlertz just makes it better.