Jedi Skill for the Internet: Force Search

I get a lot of questions from people about computer "things".  Some things I know because I remember running into it in the past, but most of the time the answers come from research done online.  Way back in the day, I had a huge library of Microsoft books on which I spent way too much money.  During the course of operating my business, I would refer to these books often.  It was just a part of my investment in the biz.

The Internet had just begun to get into techy people's homes between 1992 and 1993, as it did in mine with my first Netcom dial-up account.  I was amazed to find that Microsoft had jumped on board to put all of their Knowledge Base articles there.  I began to find answers much more quickly and I didn't have to buy all those books anymore!

Back then, we didn't even have Yahoo! or Google.  You just went to a specific company's web site and did searches from there.  Then AltaVista and Yahoo! evolved and now we have had Google around for quite a few years.

A little work in the Google search window can really get you a long way.  Let's say you bought a little appliance from a store and it stops working.  Most likely, if it is a common defect, you will find that other people are complaining about it as well, if you do a Google search on the issue.  You would be able to discover so many facts about the issue:

• What causes the problem?
• Is the manufacturer offering an improvement to the item or replacing defective ones?
• Where to send for the new item.
• Etc..

Case in point: We had a certain prominent branded washing machine.  I started to notice mold gathering up around the door seal.  I know we weren't using it incorrectly and the mold was VERY difficult to remove.  I started to get angry about it, but what did I do?  I ignored the problem.  What should I have done?  I should have Googled it!  When I finally got angry about it, I did Google it and found that the manufacturer was handing out vouchers to replace those washing machines with a newer improved model!  However, by the time I finally got around to Googling the issue, I saw that the voucher offer had expired two years prior.  That STILL eats me up to this day.  I could have had a nice new washing machine.  Now that's not a small dollar item!

Here are my 3 tips on using Google for your research. 

Be specific in your search keywords.  In the example above, I used the manufacturer name, series and model number of the washer along with the keywords: "mold" and "buildup".  The more specific your keywords, the more specific your results will be, saving you lots of time in results scanning.

Try using multiple combinations of keywords if you don't get good results.  For example, if I'm having problems with no sound coming from my BAKA (fake company name) laptop speakers, I could use the following keywords:

BAKA laptop speakers not working

or

BAKA laptop speakers no sound

or

BAKA speakers low volume

Being able to think of good keyword combinations is the key to conducting good research on Google.

Learn to scan the search results quickly.  Page scanning can save you valuable time when researching search results.  This is something that takes a lot of practice and I don't really have a way to tell you how to better do it except through repetition.  Page scanning is where you can quickly look through search results and have your eyes pick out the one or two relevant hits out of the many other not-so-relevant hits.  By a relevant hit, I mean a result that actually covers the subject matter for which you are doing the search.  A bad hit is where there is no relationship to what you are looking for at all.  Many of you probably know your "go to" person for answers to various types of questions.  Chances are, they have good page scanning skills.  I have to confess something.  Sometimes I find it frustrating watching someone carry out a search who hasn't practiced page scanning.  As I look over their shoulder while they do a Google search, I see the results come up and see them painstakingly reading each and every word, and clicking on every link.  It's no wonder why they would rather pick up the phone and call someone!  The only advice I have on this is to do it often and you'll start to "feel" which links are going to be relevant and which are not.  Truly, it's kind of like learning a new Jedi skill: Force Search.

May the search be with you!