Ok, so I’ve got every search engine I can think of. Now what?
Knowing what to search for is a large part of the battle. For this, let’s classify our tech problems into two separate categories: Hardware and Software. With hardware being the physical parts of our computer (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc.) and software being how the hardware works together (e.g. drivers, applications, etc.), we can further narrow our search indexes by understanding which side of fence our problem falls on. We always want to include some sort of model number, model type, or application name in our search field.
- For example, let’s say I’ve got a problem with my NoName 8098 laptop’s battery life. Searching
NoName 8098 Battery
might yield the results we’re looking for, while just searchingBattery Life
will return a mind-numbing number of results. - Further, let’s examine if my web-cam (RandomVid 20) is not working with my computer using Windows 7: searching
RandomVid 20 Windows 7
would probably return drivers and FAQ sites.
The great thing about the internet is that it gives you access to countless websites. If you’re having a tech-problem, more than likely you’re not the first to do so with your particular computer model or setup. With this in mind, you should usually not have to explore the 2nd, 3rd, 4th pages of a search. It’s fair warning for any web page, but increasingly, results this far down the list may either be unsafe or unhelpful websites. The key to generating effective searches is giving the search engine the most critical information needed and avoiding filler words or ambiguity.
Search Engine Foo
All search engines have built-in shortcuts to make your search more accurate. These vary for every search engine, but I’m going to give a basic overview on how these work:
- Simply searching Kodak Camera tells the engine you want results that have both “Kodak” and “Camera”, while searching Kodak or Camera will return websites with Kodak or Camera.
- Using quotations around a phrase will return websites with the exact phrase. I.e. “Rock me gently”.
- Using the minus sign (Mouse -Wireless) will return websites with the word Mouse but not Wireless.
It’s worth noting that the major search engines and most real search engine softwares (e.g. UltraSeek, Vivisimo Velocity, et al.) are pretty good at filtering common words such as interrogatives (w5+h) and articles, so it’s also feasible simply to write a question deliberately. E.g., “How much does the sun weigh?” or “How can I find government benefit programs?” Curated search engines such as Wolfram Alpha and DuckDuckGo might even be able to present an exact answer based on your choice of interrogative word and non-junk terms.