Tips for better searches

**Darlene** · 11-05-2005, 08:41 AM

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columni...searches_x.htm

**kaykwilts** · 11-05-2005, 03:06 PM

Thanks for the useful tips.

**SHOPGIRL** · 11-06-2005, 01:35 AM

good link, thanks!

**UPSyours2** · 11-07-2005, 09:56 AM

Thanks Darlene

That DANCING BEAR ad is very loud but cute

I'm in the kitchen & Ma heard it in her room asked me why I have the radio on if I'm watching tv?

I never knew that about searches. I guess next time if I try that I'll get better search results

Use quotation marks to find complete phrases. "New York" "fashion institute" will return different results than "New York fashion institute."

I never thought of using "quotes"

You can use plus and minus signs to include or exclude words. By entering "+domestic cats" (without quotation marks), the search site will find pages that contain all the terms preceded by "+." If you enter "+rescue cats -feral" (without quotation marks), the search site will return pages about rescue cats with no mention of feral. The word NOT in all capital letters can be substituted for the minus sign, such as "+rescue cats NOT feral."

I have tried the + since I saw this in one of my searches in the browser bar!

Use the word OR in all capital letters if you're interested in alternatives. Let's say you want information on camping or swimming in Hawaii. In the search box, type "Hawaii camping OR swimming." You also can use the pipe symbol, which is the vertical bar on the keyboard, such as "Hawaii camping | swimming."

This is interesting! Yeah camping in HAWAII must be fun

I guess I should of tried this when searching for Klassich Kruzers of Hawaii. A VW club in Kanohe. DH wants to go see a VW car show on our next trip to HAWAII whenever that may be.....no time soon!

Use keywords (sometimes called meta words or query words) if the advanced search is inadequate. Keywords are followed by a colon. For example, if you enter "amazing grace contains:mp3," MSN will return a list of Web pages that contain the words "amazing grace" and an .MP3 file. The .MP3 may not always be the song "Amazing Grace," but the chances that it is are much higher when using this type of query. .

Other keywords are site: (searches one specific Web site), prefer: (adds emphasis to a word or operator) and language: (results are in a specific language). .

Site I never typed in but typed sites or a website addy adding a .com but didn't get any results.

Komando hosts a national radio program about computers and the Internet. To find the station nearest you that broadcasts her show, visit www.komando.com/findkimonair.asp. .

I've never heard of this radio program. Does anyone listen to it?

I'm going to check it out