Index
074. |
Boolean searches and quotations
You can improve your search results by using Boolean operators. By default, Google operates in AND mode — that is, if you type two search terms (say, laptop review), it will return all results that contain both laptop and review. Note that Google ignores some search terms by default, like the and and, but sometimes you'll want to include these (for instance, if looking for a title of a book). To force Google to search for the terms, you can prefix them with a + symbol: lucy in +the sky with diamonds To return results that contain any one of the search terms, you can use the OR operator, symbolised by a pipe. Eg, laptop | review would return results that contain either the term "laptop" or "review" You can weed out incorrect results by using the NOT operator, defined by prefixing the unwanted search term with a -. For example, to remove all Wikipedia results from your search: laptop review -wikipedia Finally you can use quotation marks to give preference for a specific phrase, rather than individual words. Eg, "laptop review" would search for the entire string, rather than the words individually. |
075. |
Search for synonyms
If you want to expand your search, you can tell Google to include synonyms for a word by prefixing it with a tilde. For example: cnet ~laptop Would search for the term "cnet", "laptop" and synonyms for the word "laptop". |
076. |
Wildcards
You can use the * symbol to represent any word during a search. Particularly useful if you can't remember an exact song lyric! For example: lucy in the * with diamonds |
077. |
Site specific search
To search within one website, you can use the site: operator. For example: laptop site:cnet.com.au Would search for the word "laptop" only within cnet.com.au, while laptop site:.au Would search for the word "laptop" on Australian sites only. |
078. |
Advanced searching
There are some Google specific operators which will help you refine your searches even more, although they will only be needed in special circumstances. intitle: Search for the phrase only in the title of Web pages. Eg, intitle:cnet inurl: Search for the phrase only in the URL of Web pages. Eg, inurl:cnet intext: Search for the phrase in the body of Web pages, ignoring links and title. Eg, intext:cnet cache: Show Google's cache of the website, rather than return recent results. Eg, cache:cnet.com.au |
079. |
Unit and currency conversion
The magical word here is in. For example, to convert from inches to millimetres: 45 inches in mm Or to convert American dollars to Australian: 30USD in AUD Google understands a heck of a lot of units of measurements, so give it a go! |
080. |
Use Google as a calculator
Google can function as a calculator. It understands the following symbols:
You can also use parentheses to determine order of operations, and Google also understands logarithms, trigonometry and factorials. Of course, you could always just ask Google calculator for the answer to life, the universe and everything. 
It can sometimes be quicker to use Google rather than the inbuilt calculator app. (Credit: CNET.com.au) |
081. |
Check world time
To get the time in another city quickly, just type in time followed by the city. Eg, time new york city. 
Never ring mum at two in the morning again. (Credit: CNET.com.au) |
082. |
Get your stock quotes
To get market data for a particular company, just enter its stock ticker. For example, typing in NVDA would get us Nvidia's results. 
Check how your stocks are going with a quick search. (Credit: CNET.com.au) |
083. |
Hunt in specific document types
If you want to restrict your search to one particular format, this is the bees knees. Let's say you wanted to search for the term "cnet", but only return PDF files. You would enter: cnet filetype:pdf |
084. |
Local movie times
This one is easy. Simply enter the name of a currently running movie and your location to get back movie times in your area. For example, typing tropic thunder sydney get us: 
Get to movie times quicker than on the cinema's own site. (Credit: CNET.com.au) |
085. |
Weather forecast
Want to know if it'll be sunny for that perfect outing? For a four-day weather forecast, type weather followed by the city of choice. For example, weather sydney would return: 
Whether the weather is hot... (Credit: CNET.com.au) |
I didn't bother reading them all, but "tip" #7 (turn off UAC) is totally irresponsible. DO NOT TURN OFF UAC! Demand that your vendor fix their application to work correctly with UAC.
I am a software developer, and on a daily basis, I see maybe 1 or 2 UAC dialog prompts. For a non-developer, you should practically *never* see the UAC prompt in day-to-day activities.