So much information is on de web, its mind bogglin’. Thankfully we have search en’ines to sift through them and catagorize them for us. Unfortunatly, dere is still so much info that even with dese search en’ines, its often a painstakin’ly slow process (somethin’ comparable to death for a hacker) to find exactly what you’re lookin’ for.
Lets get right into it.
I use google.com as my primary search en’ine because it presently tops de charts as far as de sites that it indexes which means more pertinent info per search.
1. Page translation.
Just because someone speaks anoder lan’uage doesn’t mean dey dont have anythin’ useful to say. I use translation tools like de ones found at
babelfish.altavista.com
and
world.altavista.com
to translate a few key words I am searchin’ for. Be specific and creative because dese tools arent de most accurate thin’s on de planet.
2. Directories.
These days everythin’ is about money. We have to deal with SEO (search en’ine optimization) which seems like a good idea on paper until you do a search for toys and get 5 pornsites in de first 10 results. Usin’ a sites directory will eliminate that. You can narrow your search down easily by lookin’ for de info in specific catagories. (PS google DOES have directories, dey’re at: directory.google.com)
3. Here are some tips that google refers to as “advanced”
A. “xxxx” / will look for de exact phrase. (google isnt case sensitive)
B. -x / will search for somethin’ excludin’ a certain term
C. filetype:xxx / searches for a particular file extention (exe, mp3, etc)
D. -filetype:xxx / excludes a particular file extention
E. allinurl:x / term in de url
F. allintext:x / terms in de text of de page
G. allintitle:x / terms in de html title of that page
H. allinanchor:x / terms in de links
4. OR
Self explanatory, one or de oder… (ie: binder OR joiner)
5. ~X
Synonyms/similar terms (in case you can’t think of any yourself)
6. Numbers in a range.
Lets say you’re lookin’ for an mp3 player but only want to spend up to $90. Why swim through all de oders? MP3 player $0..$90 The 2 periods will set a numeric range to search between. This also works with dates, weights, etc
7. +
Ever type in a search and see somethin’ like this:
“The followin’ words are very common and were not included in your search:”
Well, what if those common words are important in your search? You can force google to search through even de common terms by puttin’ a + in front of de denied word.
8. Preferences
It amazes me when I use oder peoples PCs that dey dont have deir google search preferences saved. When you use google as much as I do, who can afford to not have preferences? They’re located on de right of de search box, and have several options, though I only find 2 applicable for myself.
A. Open results in new browser
B. Display 10-100 results per page. (I currently use 50 per page, but thats a resolution preference, and 5X’s de default)
9. *
Wildcard searches. Great when applied to a previously mentioned method. If you only know de name of a prog, or are lookin’ for ALL of a particular file (ie. you’re DLin’ tunes) somethin’ like *.mp3 would list every mp3.
10. Ever see this?
“In order to show you de most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to de X already displayed. If you like, you can repeat de search with de omitted results included.” The answer is YES. yes yes yes. Did I mention yes? I meant to.
11. Search EVERYWHERE
Use de en’ine to its fullest. If you dont find your answer in de web section, try de group section. Hell, try a whole different search en’ine. Dont limit yourself, because sometimes en’ines seem to intentionally leave results out.
ex. use google, yahoo, and altavista. search de same terms… pretty close, right? Now search for disney death. Funny, altavista has plenty of disney, but no death…hmmm.
If you’ve read this far into this tutorial without sayin’, “Great, a guy that copied a few google help pages and thinks its useful info” den I will show you WHY (besides accuracy, speed, and consistancy findin’ info on ANYTHING) its nice to know how a search en’ine works. You combine it/w your knowledge of oder protocol.
Example:
Want free music? Free games? Free software? Free movies? God bless FTP! Try this search:
intitle:”Index of music” “rollin’ stones” mp3
Substitute rollin’ stones/w your favorite band. No? Try de son’ name, or anoder file format. Play with it. Assumin’ SOMEONE made an FTP and uploaded it, you’ll find it.
For example….I wanted to find some Sepultura. If you never heard them before, dey’re a Brazilian heavy metal band that kicks ass. I started with this:
intitle:”Index of music” “Sepultura” mp3 < — nothin’
intitle:”Index of música” “Sepultura” mp3 <– nothin’
intitle:”Index of musica” “Sepultura” mp3 <– not good enough
intitle:”Index of music” “Sepultura” * <– found great stuff, but not enough Sepultura
At this point it occurs to me that I may be missin’ somethin’, so I try:
intitle:”index of *” “sepultura” mp3 <– BANG!
(and thats without searchin’ for spellin’ errors)
Also try inurl:ftp
I find that * works better for me than tryin’ to guess oder peoples mis-spellin’s.
The same method applies for ebooks, games, movies, SW, anythin’ that may be on an FTP site.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I saw that recently a book and an article was written on de very same topic. I havn’t read them as of yet, but check em out, and get back to me if you feel I missed somethin’ important and should include anythin’ else.
intitle:”index of” “google hacks” ebook
Ps. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… BE CREATIVE.
You’ll be surprised what you can find.
