Ten is an arbitrary number, far too few for any list of most useful, everyday research Web sites. It’s a starting point and, if you like this idea, send me requests for other more specialized topics. Favorite surveillance tool site? Most preferred business research sources? Name your area.

While lounging on your desert island waiting to be rescued, or not, you’ll be wirelessly surfing the Internet. Many of you sent me your sites of necessity, from which I’ve compiled this short collection of everyday information sites that have free or low fee access.

Finding services and places featured prominently in your suggestions. Use the USPS database, searchable by city and state, to pull up a list of physical locations of post offices and their fax numbers. Fax your Request for Change of Address or Boxholder Information Needed for Service of Legal Process form to obtain or update the street address of a mailbox holder for Service of Process.

When you need to venture out of the office you’ll want to know all things atmospheric: severe weather, fire danger, air and water temperature, and snow predictions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site has an extensive set of tools for weather and climate historical research.

Instead of stumbling around, find the county and state associated with a place name or zipcode. Identify all the states in which there is a particular county name.

After all these necessities are in order, you may want to connect to a government agency or to government generated information through the premier government portal FirstGov. A list of federal and state courts and their addresses and Web site links are organized at the National Center for State Courts. Reach the home page of a state, county or local government Web site.

Whether you choose to go to a government agency to conduct your public records research or you carry it out online may depend on what’s available. Anyway, while you’re on the desert island you’ll want to use the Internet. First you need to determine if an agency – court, Recorder of Deeds Assessor, Building Department, Vital Records, to name a few, – have their records online. Search Systems has the largest, most current directory of public records links on the Internet. This site directly connects you to the search page; you don’t have to hunt from the agency home page to find the link to the public records. Until very recently this site has been entirely free but now has a $50/year access fee.

Search across multiple free reverse telephone and address sites at Argali. The free service is splashed with ads but the low-cost version is only $30/year.

The group edited encyclopedia, Wikipedia, helps you sharpen the concepts you’re trying to convey in your reports and, while you’re on this course of self-improvement, find spelling, synonym, antonym and hyponym help at this encyclodictionalmanacapedia.

There were so many great sites you suggested that I started compiling them at a Wiki, 60 Sites In 60 Minutes for Private Investigators.

Thanks to all the contributors: Jean Kyles, Tim Koster, Jim Magdelano, Bob Taylor, Roy Niles and Wallace Nolen.