When it come to searching for Information on the WEB,
most of us think of Google. But due to sheer vastness
of the web it becomes difficult to get the desired   
information.					       
=======================================================



I would like to share some tips which helps optimise your search.

1.If the ordinary search yields a lot of unwanted results,click 
on the "ADVANCED SEARCH" button and then you can refine your search.

2.If you don't want results in other languages,you can restrict
the search to only English by selecting it from the dropdown menu.

3.You can get documents of 6 specified type by chosing the type.
	# ADOBE ACROBAT PDF (*.pdf)
	# ADOBE POSTSCRIPT (*.ps)
	# HTML FILES (*.htm or *.html)
	# MICROSOFT WORD (*.doc)
	# MICROSOFT EXCEL (*.xls)
	# RICH TEXT FORMAT (*.rtf)
	

4.If you always use Google, tweak it to suit you needs.
Click preferences on the main page and chose the appropriate
settings. But for this to work, you browser shoulg accept a cookie.
If it is IE that you use, got to tools>internet options>privacy
and set it to accept cookie.


5.You can set the number of results returned on a page. It 
can be anythng between 10 to 100.


6.google also offers certain symbols or keywords that can be used to 
refine the search.

{+} => vaishak+suresh => searches documents with both 'vaishak' and 'suresh'

{-} => harley-davidson => searches for 'harley' but not 'davidson'

{~} => ~hacking => searches for 'hacking' as well as its synonyms.

{Cache:} => cache:http://www.ndtv.com => returns cached page of ndtv.com

{define:} => define:freeware => gives definition of 'freeware'.

{related:} => related:www.mp3.com => returns pages similar to mp3.com

{info}: => info:www.mp3.com => gives the information that google has 
				about mp3.com

{site:} => vtu site:www.thesummer.cjb.net => searches for pages with'vtu'
					    in www.thesummer.cjb.net

{OR} => thisORthat => search result has 'this' or 'that' or both.


==============================
REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
------------------------------
http://www.google.com/help/operators.html
http://www.google.com/help

http://www.altavista.com
http://www.mamma.com
http://www.dogpile.com
http://www.askjeevs.com

www.kaZaA.com, provides P2P search tool.
although sharing music is illegal, you can find
almost anything on the kazaa network. but you have to install a 
client software to do the search.
===================================================================

hope the above tips make searching a cakewalk!



Vaishak Suresh
http://www.geocities.com/vaishaksuresh
vaishaksuresh.despammed@com  (interchange . and @)


-
DISCLAIMER:-
		The above material is an original work of the author.
		It is not bound by any copyright law and can be 
		used for any purpose. The author is not responsible for its further use.
		article contributed to "GEEKMAIL" by Vaishak Suresh

    Source: geocities.com/vaishaksuresh/geekmail

               ( geocities.com/vaishaksuresh)