Every year, thousands of people try to quit smoking, but within a few months, most have started again. If you smoke and have tried to quit, as I have, you know just how hard it is. Most ex-smokers agree that the key ingredient in any attempt at quitting is support. The trick is in finding the right support for you.

The best place to start your search for the support you need is the Master Anti-Smoking Page . Here you will find the most comprehensive list of quit support links on the web to help you stop smoking.

This page boasts "links to any and every anti-smoking page on the web", along with their own tip page and Smoke No More Forum. You will also find the Tobacco Control Archives that contain the Brown and Williamson collection of memos and reports on smoking to help shore up your resolve to stay quit.

Joining an internet newsgroup is another way to gain the support you need. Newsgroups work in much the same way as a bulletin board, where messages are posted for everyone else to see and respond to.

For more information on how newsgroups work, see Square One Technology's page on How to Read and Connect to a Newsgroup. Alt.support.stop-smoking, or AS3, is one such internet newsgroup dedicated to helping people stop smoking through discussion, motivation and exchange of information.

More than a few subscribers have credited the help of this group as instrumental in bolstering their quit resolve. On the homepage for AS3 are instructions on how to connect to the newsgroup as well as links for the archive and the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) which are filled with helpful information to conquer your addiction.

If it's a more immediate type of support that you need, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is your best bet. #nosmokers on the Starlink server has a homepage, as do #oranges on the Cobranet server and #as3irc on the Undernet.

The #as3irc channel is the counterpart to the newsgroup of alt.support.stop-smoking. Each of these homepages will tell you how to connect to their IRC channel. You will need an IRC program, and one of the best is mIRC.

mIRC's hompage explains how to download the IRC program and how to connect to a server. These chat rooms are open 24 hours a day and someone is usually there to help you over the rough spots.

Until a few weeks ago, the website of #nosmokers , was maintained by Bud Ellis. No one knew the pain of quitting more than Bud. He had quit several times before finally quitting for good about 28 months ago. Unfortunately, by that time, he was already on oxygen and used it 24 hours a day.

Sadly, Bud passed away a few weeks ago during complications of surgery. One of the members of the AS3 newsgroup has posted a very moving summary of his hospitalization and surgery that you can read. Bud's web site is packed full of information to help stop smoking for good, once and for all.

The "Gallery of Winners" page is one of the most interesting and motivating parts of this website. Here, Bud has posted the pictures of many who have been successful at quitting. Bud was, and still is, my greatest motivation for staying off cigarettes for good.

Sometimes, trying not to smoke is a minute by minute struggle. At these times, a "quit meter" can help tremendously. These meters are software programs that record how long since your last smoke, how many cigarettes you haven't smoked and how much money you've saved based on the price per pack.

The Smoke Free Stats Quitmeter is one of the best of these programs because it also contains a journal section to keep track of your ups and downs in addition to a "smoking facts" section.

One of the most popular meters is called Silkquit. This meter has the added feature of keeping track of how many extra days will be added to your life now that you have quit smoking.

At one time or another, we all need to be face to face with our supporters to get a real live hug or pat on the back. Let's face it, this is one of the hardest things we've ever done.

Nicotine Anonymous , a 12-step program patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous, holds weekly meetings across the US. Their homepage includes a schedule of meetings by state with day, time and location to make it easy for you to find a meeting no matter where you live.

If knowing how you got where you are and how you can get out is helpful, check out the Habitsmart web page maintained by Robert Westermyer, PhD. He provides lots of great information on the addictive process and ways to change your habits.

The American Lung Association Tobacco Control Page also has information on tobacco addiction, in addition to teen smoking, tobacco control in the workplace, schools and advertising and important information on Nicotine Replacement therapy (NRT).

One of the leaders in NRT, Nicorette gum has a homepage on the web with all the information you need before trying this aid -- including a dependency quiz, helpful tips and frequently asked questions.

One aid that is not an NRT and actually contains no nicotine at all is Zyban. A relative newcomer to the fight, Zyban , an anti-depressant drug shown to help calm cravings, can be very helpful to smokers trying to kick the habit. See important information including dosage, side effects, etc., at their homepage.

Gum, hard candy and mints have long been the traditional stop smoking substitution aids and can still help now when you just need something sweet to take the edge off.

Believe it or not, many ex-smokers today swear by Jolly Ranchers and Altoids when the urge to smoke hits. Both Jolly Rancherland and the Amazing Altoids homepage have lots of background information. But they're also just plain fun to visit with all the time that you've saved by giving up smoking!.

Finally, as with many other struggles in life, humor is sometimes the best medicine of all. Although mainly a web page deveoted to selling his books, Dr. Migaly's stop smoking page has some great tips, along with humor and cartoons that are related to the quit smoking process.

The odds of staying quit, of course, depend on you and your resolve, but the chances are much better now that there are many different types of resources available. Pick the one that works best for you, or try them all.

Although nothing can guarantee your success in quitting, it's a pretty good bet that it will be the single, best thing that you can do to change the quality of your life. So, go for it! What have you got to lose? You can do this!