MistyWindow.com

computer stuff for real people

Searching the Web

Finding Your Way Around the Internet

Finding stuff is really easy. If you don't know the URL (address) of the website to which you want to go, you use a Search Engine. If you're looking for information about absolutely anything, you also use a Search Engine. I usually use Google, but there are lots of others, Yahoo, MSN Search — a host of them. For our purposes we'll use Google, but other engines have similar usage patterns and protocols.

At the risk of initiating a flood of complaints, I'll stick my neck out and say that Google is, presently, the best of the bunch. That could all change next week.

Search engine success is also related to the subject. If you don't get a satisfactory result with one, try another.

Searching

One way is to go to to the Google site. Type the address shown into the Internet Explorer address bar at the top of your screen and click on the green Go arrow or tap Enter.

Handy Hint: If you're going to a site whose URL (address, as in the image above) ends with .com, all you need do is type the root name, say, MistyWindow, into the address bar, then hold down Ctrl and tap Enter. The rest of the address — http://www.MistyWindow.com — is added automatically. Example: type time in the address bar, then Ctrl + Enter, and you're off to Time's homepage. Try it in another browser window or tab.

Open a new browser window or tab and try it with these sites: aldaily, bartleby, howstuffworks, and then google. If you're outside the U.S.A., you may be automatically redirected to a local google site with a different domain ending.

When you get to the page shown, type what you're searching for into the search box, tap Enter or click on the Google Search button, and bingo! hundreds, maybe hundreds of thousands, of results.

Narrowing Your Search

This first tip is probably the most important for improving your searches.

• If you're looking for a phrase, enclose it in quotation marks
  • The search is then constrained to the exact phrase rather than to all of the individual words. For example: "mercury bay weed" (986 hits) will give you a more specific search than mercury bay weed(613,000 hits!)
• If you wish to force the inclusion of a word , or words, place a + sign in front of the word.
  • For instance: tApollo moon +13 or manchester +united
• If you wish to force the exclusion of a word , or words, place a minus sign in front of the word.
  • For instance: dolphins -miami.
• Combine them:
  • "world cup" +rugby -league -soccer. Get the idea?
• If you're looking for a quick definition use define:
  • For instance - define:gigabyte (with or without a space between) will give you a selection of definitions from dictionaries, encyclopaediae and other sources. This applies to any word, not just geeky tech stuff.
  • My tests indicate that quotation marks are not necessary outside phrases when using the define:search function.
• Capitalisation is not necessary. Search engines are blind to upper and lower case.

Search engines like Google and Yahoo provide you with many more advanced features to help you to refine your search. Phrasing the input is a bit of an art which you'll pick up easily with a bit of thought and practice. In the screenshot above you can see the Advanced Search link to the right of the text entry box.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I'll leave it to Google to teach you the fine art of searching. Try these links: Google Guide: Help with Searching and Google Quick Reference to Advanced Searching Operators It's amazing what you can discover with two or three words typed into the Google search box.

An Examples

I wanted to find a Time Magazine article on anti-depressants which I'd lost. I couldn't find it on Time's website so I entered this, without Quotation marks, in Google: time magazine antidepressant drugs article Jackpot first time.

Get the Google Toolbar

The Google Toolbar (Yahoo have one too) allows you to search from your Browser without having to go to google.com, it allows you to search in specific countries, for shopping, pictures, within the current site, and a number of other options.

It's really useful. Honest.

Go to the Google Toolbar page, click on “Download Google Toolbar”, click on Run in the dialogue box which pops up, then follow the on-screen instructions to download the Google Toolbar with Advanced Functions.
You can now search to your heart’s content without going to the Google page.
When your toolbar is installed, customise it by clicking on the Google logo with the little downward arrow beside it. Then drag it, just as you did with the Address Bar, to the position shown above.