What Else Can A Google Search Do?

It's simple to Google, but it's not always easy to get it right. We've all been frustrated by typing something into the search bar, only to be bombarded with a bunch of junk: pages of search results, filled with Web links from questionable sources. Results that aren't what you were looking for.

Google is unquestionably the most popular search engine, with an estimated 900 million unique visitors every month, according to eBizMBA, which compiles website statistics. Its nearest competitor, Bing, gets an estimated 165 million unique visitors every month by comparison. It would be impossible to give tips for every search engine out there, so here's how to refine your Google searches:

First, use the advanced search option. Type in your question to get the preliminary results, then click the options button at the upper right part of the page (it looks like a cog) to select advanced search. Narrow down your results by adding words, excluding words or specifying an exact word or phrase. If you've performed the search before, you can show updates only within a certain time frame, so you're not looking at old information.

Once you've got your advanced search results, note that additional options appear in the menu on the left side of the screen, so you can modify results with additional conditions, such as sort-by-date versus relevance, or only sites with images.

Easy, but Advanced Google Operators: You can use a number of "operators" to achieve specific results. There are literally thousands of "operators" out there, so we are just going to show you a few simple ones. If you want to get really adventurous, you can combine most of these operators to come up with interesting search results.

If you want examples of these search queries, click on the links to see our sample searches.

• Use Quotes: To search for an exact phrase, put it in quotes. If you're looking for a list of Dr. Seuss books, typing those words probably will generate results that include not only the books but websites about doctors and medical journals. By typing "Dr. Seuss" books, Google will return results with that exact phrase.

• Exclude Words And Sites From Your Search: To exclude a word, write "minus" in front of it. Looking for information on ducks, but not mallards? Typing "ducks minus mallards" into the search parameter gets you closer to your goal.

• Search For Synonymous: For synonymous terms, enter a search query in quotes "nerds" and Google will automatically include  synonyms in results.

• Search With "Wild Cards": When you know only some of the words in a specific title or phrase, substitute an asterisk for the unknown. This wildcard search is great for finding out the title of song -- and how to spell it.

• Find A Phone Number: Identify that random caller in a flash (assuming it's a landline) by typing the phone number into your search field. Or type in the area code and find out the city in which the call originated.

Additional tools can that will help you in every day life.

• Google + Math: Run a mathematical equation in the Quick Calculator's search bar, using the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols.

• Search For Recipes: Trying a new recipe? With Google's Unit Converter, type in "2 cups equal how many ounces?" It will perform even that basic calculation (16). Or have it convert pounds into kilos, or Celsius into Fahrenheit, or convert length, volume and speed.

• Search For Definitions: For "Dictionary," type in "define" plus the word in question. Interested in entertainment? To find out what movies are playing in a specific area or ZIP code, use the "movie" operator followed by a title; it will show all theater listings in the area.

Check out the menu on the left of your search results for specific Google search filters that can help you narrow results to News, Shopping, Recipes, Flights and more, each with tailored search filters to narrow your results.
And happy hunting!

 

Free Tax Prep Resources

By: Andrea Eldridge

April will be here before you know it, and so will that mid-month deadline for filing your tax returns. If you haven't already tried electronic filing, give it a go. But with so many programs that offer roughly the same service, how's a tax e-filer to choose? I checked out some popular options so you wouldn't have to.
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I'm not sure if it's intentional, but the pricing plans offered by some of the major tax preparation services -- TurboTax, H&R Block and FreeTax USA -- are confusing. Their home pages are emblazoned with the word "free," but that typically only refers to filing a basic federal 1040EZ form. Charges increase for filing additional federal and state forms. The programs offer different support structures based on the package.

I'll explain options for common needs.

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The Budget do-it-yourself Tax Pro.

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If you've filed your own taxes in the past and have a straightforward financial picture, FreeTax USA is an easy, inexpensive way to file electronically. The basic version is free and includes a tutorial as well as the ability to file individual deductions and print PDF copies of your returns. State filing is $9.95, and upgrading for an additional $5.95 allows you to amend your return later and get access to audit support if you need it.

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The Confident But Cautious Tax Sites.

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TurboTax and TaxACT Online will store prior-year returns which, depending on the package you choose, you can access for reminders of what you've deducted in the past. Each program offers a "Maximum Refund Pledge" to return your money if another preparer uses the same information and generates a larger refund. But, seriously, who's going to do their taxes twice just to check?

TurboTax is one of the largest names in online tax-preparation software. Unlike FreeTax USA, it allows phone access to tax professionals to help you through your filing if you hit a snag. Its professionals will even spot-check your return before you file. TurboTax packages range from "free" to $129.95 for the business edition. Most users will be well served by the $29.95 deluxe edition, plus $36.95 per state filing. The included audit support (via phone or online chat) is a comforting feature.

TaxAct Online offers many of the same perks as TurboTax, but only its audit support seems to be provided by a tax professional. The Ultimate Bundle ($17.95) includes a single state filing and phone, email and audit support. If you think you'll want access to a tax professional while you're working on your returns, stick with TurboTax.

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The Nervous Newbie, Don't Worry These Tax Tips Are Easy.

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Those filing online for the first time should consider H&R Block's $79.95 "Best of Both Worlds" option (state filing is an additional $34.95). It includes the premium version (good for the self-employed or owners of rental property) and a personalized review of your taxes done by an H&R Block tax professional. You're matched with a single tax professional for unlimited help and support instead of being sent to a general call-in service. If you're audited, H&R Block will provide you with legal representation, a benefit unmatched by other programs. If an error in representatives' calculations results in IRS penalties and/or interest, the company will foot the bill.
Article By: Andrea Eldridge

 

How To Fix A Broken Wireless Network

By: Andrea Eldridge.

Once you have a wireless network set up in your home or office, it should work seamlessly… about 80% of the time. The remaining 20% will likely cause you to tear your hair out. Before you resign yourself to your Soduku book the next time you can’t get online, here are some basic tips to keep your wireless network fully operational.

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If Your network was working fine yesterday and suddenly today you can’t get online.

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Whether you set up your own network or hire a professional to do it for you, there will likely come a day when your internet connection drops and you are suddenly unable to get online. Knowing the steps to re-set your network can save you hours on hold with your internet provider’s tech support.

The First Thing You Should Do When Your Internet Stops Working:
1. Power off your computers, router and modem (you may have an all-in-one modem/router).
2. Check to make sure any and all cables are fully engaged.
3. Turn devices back on in the following order: modem, router, computer. Wait for each device
to completely turn on before turning on the next device. You will typically know this by the lights
stabilizing.

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If A New Laptop Can't Connect To Your Network:

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If "Aunt Betty’s"  laptop has a built-in wireless adapter, her system should be able to “find” your wireless network. In Windows 7 click the Start button and select “Control Panel,” then “Network and Internet”, then “Network and Sharing Center.” Choose “Connect to a Network” to show a list of available WiFi networks. Find the name you chose for your network. If her system is unable to locate any available networks, make sure that her WiFi card is enabled. There may be a button at the top left of her keyboard with a picture that looks like a beacon, or there may be a button on the laptop itself with this image on or near it. Pressing the button will turn on or off the WiFi adapter. Once the laptop “sees” available connections, click the “Connect” button next to your network. It will pop up a box requiring your network password (you DID set up that password, right?). Once you enter the right password, click the box that will allow her system to automatically connect going forward, and Betty should be surfing
the net in no time.

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If Your Son/Daughter Broke The Internet!

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Your teenager was “fixing” something to get his Xbox online and now nobody can connect. First, try the re-set steps listed above. If that doesn’t work, turn off the modem and router. There should be an Ethernet cable running between your modem and your router. Make sure that cable is plugged into the WAN port on your router, and that any computers that are hard wired to your router are connected via the other ports. Run back through the re-set steps, and if you still can’t get online, send your kid out to buy a wireless networking for dummies book and get studying.

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If Everyone Else Is Surfing The Net Smoothly… Everyone But You.

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If you’re getting a “Page Cannot Be Displayed” error, the problem may be with the website you’re trying to visit. Attempt to view a site you know exists and is reliable, like Google or Yahoo, to determine if the problem is with your system or with the website. If it’s your system, the first step in any computer troubleshooting is to shut down your computer and turn it back on and try again. Don’t just run through restart, fully shut down and reboot after waiting a few seconds. If you still can’t access the internet, run through the steps suggested above for getting Cousin Betty’s laptop online. Windows 7 also has a “Troubleshoot Problems” option under the “Network and Sharing Center” that can help reset your system’s network if all else fails.

Well, hopefully those DIY tips will fix the problem. If that doesn't work feel free to jump over to our Facebook Page and ask us for some more free advice.
Article By: Andrea Eldridge

Photo By:Yasuhiko

Yep, They're Watching

You think the things that you do online are between you and your computer. Not so. Your cyber-privacy is constantly being chipped away: by your Internet provider, your cellphone carrier and lawmakers. Before you post to a social-media site or browse the Internet for that report you're compiling on pedophiles, keep in mind how your actions online are anything but private.

At issue is the struggle to protect privacy rights while fighting the online theft of American intellectual property.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives shelved its proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA (H.R. 3261). The legislation's surface intent seemed sound: It would have given holders of music, films, books and other intellectual property copyrighted in the United States some teeth to stop its illegal distribution, even if that property was stored in an offshore server. But the bill required such sweeping enforcement that Google communications director Bob Boorstin said, "YouTube would just go dark immediately." If you were caught unwittingly posting a video of your niece singing along with the latest Taylor Swift tune, you could be blocked from Facebook and by your Internet provider and you'd have the burden of proving your innocence.

Hawaii's legislature recently considered a bill (HB 2288) that would have required Internet providers to track state residents' online activities and retain detailed records for at least two years. Internet providers, businesses and consumer-rights activists immediately protested the legislation, which is being revised.



Though SOPA was postponed indefinitely after tech-industry backlash, alternative legislation -- the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act, or OPEN -- was introduced last month in the House. It seeks to improve enforcement of copyrights online. If you access sharing or social-media sites, consider how -- if it becomes law -- it might affect you or the sites you patronize.

How much information about your online activities is tracked and/or sold depends on the policies of the Internet service provider and websites you use.

Google will roll out a new privacy policy March 1 that it says will streamline more than 70 privacy agreements into one cross-platform policy that's clearer and easier to understand. Opponents point out that it will allow any information you've shared or created on one Google platform -- Gmail, YouTube, Google+, etc. -- to be shared across all Google products.

The fear is that Google will soon have a "massive, all-inclusive database of your most private information, from your political leanings to your searches for prescription drugs. And there's nothing you can do about it, short of giving up your Google habit," Fox Van Allen wrote Jan. 25 on Tecca, a consumer tech website.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security solicited bids for building a network capable of monitoring "publicly available social media" to track potential terrorist activity. The department's "privacy impact assessment" -- at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_ops_publiclyavail... -- said it would track only publicly available information, but it still makes me want to review my Facebook privacy settings.

In October, Verizon changed its privacy policy to detail what broadband-user information it collects and sells. It collects information on your Internet activity, downloaded apps, physical location and demographics -- stripped of your name and other personal identification -- and sells it to advertisers or anyone else willing to pay for it. Verizon is the most transparent of the carriers, which all likely engage in data gathering.

You may think that monitoring and selling information about your online activity isn't a big deal if it isn't tracked back to you. However, while your personal details may be stripped from data before it's sold, there's no telling what may be done with the information if it's maintained in databases that are out of your hands.

Alright enough talking, now tell us what you think.

 

Facebook Timeline Tips: Soon It Will be A Requirement

I've been dragging my heels about adopting Timeline, the Facebook profile introduced in September. I haven't wanted to accept that my comfy, familiar profile will soon be gone for good. But there's no delaying anymore: Facebook announced last week that "over the next few weeks, everyone will get Timeline."

Instead of waiting for Timeline to be sprung on you, I'd suggest that you jump in now and spend a few hours on www.facebook.com/about/timeline. Watch the tutorial video. Then click the "Get Timeline" button to get started, which I find preferable to logging in one day to a different layout.

Timeline makes sense. It aims to present your life in chronology, compiling your manual entries and status updates, threading them with photos and videos. Think of it as a huge digital photo album chronicling your life, with all the things you've posted to Facebook over the years. Your "News Feed" remains unchanged, so you can see your friends' status updates just as you're used to.

• Timeline changes only the layout, not your privacy settings or options.


• Once you switch to Timeline, you can't go back.


• Timeline will soon be a requirement and no longer an option. 

You'll have seven days to review what will be presented to your friends before it goes live -- unless you choose to have it go live sooner. During this time, you can fill out your timeline with important events, modify your entries and photos, and adjust settings on anything dredged up from your past that you don't want to make public. If you don't want your boss perusing the photos from your best friend's bachelorette party, you can hide them from your timeline or set their privacy settings to close friends only. Depending on how much you've shared on Facebook, this may be time consuming.

Instead of just having a profile picture, you can choose a "cover" image to set the theme for your profile page. It stretches across the top of your profile, and you can change it whenever you like.

Your Timeline appears below your cover, chronologically showing major events you've logged on your profile, photos, status updates and activities. You can jump to a specific year, or keep scrolling to see your Facebook life in one super-long, detailed page.

Expand a story by hovering over it and clicking on the star button in the upper right corner. Hide or delete it entirely by clicking on the pencil image. Add important events right where you want them on your Timeline, or insert additional status updates to explain photos or events that need context.

Apps linked to your account will show your recent activity, so the details of your last run, places you've visited, what you've watched on Neflix or listened to on Spotify will show up on your Timeline if you've linked them to your Facebook account. The same goes for game updates.

If scrolling through your whole Timeline seems daunting, use the "Activity Log" -- a quick preview page that lets you see everything you've posted to Facebook since you created your account.

You can control everything that is viewable on your Timeline, adding, removing, or hiding. Just don't work too hard trying to perfect your Timeline. Facebook will surely change again, just when you get used to the new version.

New Years Eve Resolutions For Your Computer

 
 
 
As we venture into 2012, let's resolve to ditch bad computing habits.

Resolve to stay viruses fre: This year, take the necessary steps to keep viruses and spyware off your computer. Every day, frustrated computer users call about slow systems that are bogged down with pop-up ads, re-directing them on the Internet, generating error messages or preventing booting up. The most common culprits are viruses and spyware or malware.

Le me repeat my mantra: Install a free anti-virus and anti-spyware program such as Microsoft Security Essentials, and set it to automatically download and install updates. If you haven't done this yet, make a post-holiday gift of antivirus to your computer.

Ignore Pop Ups: While you're at it, resolve not to open email attachments from unknown senders -- even if it most recently came from your sister. Don't click on pop-up ads (especially those professing that your computer is infected) or download programs or files from questionable sources. Trust me: The torrent site from which you're considering a download hasn't vetted the content to confirm that you'd really get a desired video or music file, free of viruses or spyware. Is that new Justin Bieber song really worth the risk?

Resolve to password protect: One of the easiest lines of defense in today's online world is to beef up your passwords. Instead of using a word found in the dictionary, consider using a phrase in which you replace some letters with numbers or symbols. For example, "N3rds Rule" is going to be far safer than your child's name or birthday. When setting up your password or security questions, steer clear of using any information easily found on your Facebook profile.

Instead of constantly changing passwords, you're better off having different passwords at different sites. One easy option is to make all your online retailer login and passwords different from your financial logins and those different from your email password. Remembering three passwords based on category is easier than remembering a constantly changing single password.

Resolve to protect your personal data: When it comes to identity theft and credit card fraud, thieves look for the easiest targets. Though there's no way to guarantee that you won't be a victim, you can make yourself more challenging than the majority of people making risky mistakes.

Resist the impulse to respond to unsolicited emails or phone calls, allegedly from your bank or credit card company, that want to confirm your personal information or credit card number. When in doubt, call the number on the back of your credit card to confirm the request is legitimate.

Create some "cyber distance" between your banking and online shopping, social media or news subscriptions by setting up a separate, secure email for your bank logins.

When creating an account at an online retailer, uncheck any boxes offering to save your data. If that website's server is compromised, you want to limit the personal information that a hacker can get and potentially link back to your other accounts.

For more tips on how to keep yourself safe and your computer happy in the new tear, drop me a note for more of what I've learned from years of making mistakes.

 

A Guide to Clearing Personal Data From Old Devices

Before You give away your computer or cellphone, make sure you permanently delete your personal information from the hard drive.

If you were fortunate enough to receive a new tech gadget this holiday season, it can be a great opportunity to donate or sell an older device that you no longer need. Before you send it off, keep in mind that most electronic items contain a wealth of personal information that you want to ensure doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

Whether you're handing down your laptop to your teenager, giving your old phone to Uncle Fred, or donating your gadget to Goodwill, make sure you wipe your data off the device.

If you're passing along a hand-me-down computer or laptop to a trusted family member, performing a backup (to transfer your data to the new system), formatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows is the easiest way to return the system to factory-like condition. Many people think this is sufficient to wipe your data from the drive, but information is still retrievable using a data recovery software program.

What if your nephew decides to sell your old computer on eBay to fund his new iPad? It's important that you completely erase your data off a hard drive before you send it to a new home or into the unknown.

Instead of just deleting data, you'll want to use a program like DBAN  (free) to overwrite all of the partitions on your hard drive, which makes the information impossible to recreate. If you're donating a computer or laptop, I recommend pulling out and destroying the old hard drive so there's no risk of anyone gaining access to your personal information. Don some safety glasses, grab a hammer and get some revenge on the system that failed you.

Before handing off an old cellphone, pull the SIM card (if possible; Verizon doesn't use removable SIM cards) to disable the phone's ability to connect to a cell provider network and remove personal information. Also, make sure to remove any expansion memory cards. Your next stop should be ReCellular. Enter the make and model type of your phone, register and you'll be emailed detailed instructions to wipe the data off your device. If that doesn't work, check your phone's manual or the manufacturer's website for instructions to wipe the phone's drive. Dropping off the phone with your carrier will not ensure that your personal data is removed before your device ends up resold or donated.

The good news about MP3 players and tablets is that they typically use flash memory and store data in cloud applications or synched with your main computer instead of writing your data to a hard disk, so it's easier to wipe a device and return it to factory default settings. Most have an option through their general settings menu to reset all content and settings to the original state, wiping your files in the process. For a video tutorial specific to your gadget, check eHow.

Selling an electronic item that you no longer need can be a great way to earn a few bucks. Once you're confident that all traces of your personal data has been purged, make sure you clean and refurbish the device so you can get top dollar. Gazelle is a gadget-specific resource to sell or recycle your old toys. Because a third party inspects and confirms its condition before sending money on to the seller, buyers are often willing to pay a higher price than through the buyer-beware experience of Craigslist or eBay.