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Reference Section
One of the great benefits of the internet is the fantastic at-your-fingertips availability of information on literally anything and everything; this is a great advantage for the student, the researcher or simply the curious. But in this advantage is the challenge of information overwhelm - with quadrillions of pieces of information, how to access the specific piece of information you want?
An obvious contributor to the solution is the Search Engine, but even with the tremendous capability of today's big engines, I submit to you a basic search engine problem - as the amount of online information grows, the query needed to obtain a specific piece of data must be increasingly precise - exceeding the practical ability of a user to easily formulate the exact needed query; a complexity not aided by the ambiguous and idiomatic nature of the English language.
Thus obtaining information from the internet is itself an art - a user develops skill in making initial queries to narrow the search, to find the key words and phrases that will lead to uncovering the information wanted, a number of such queries may be required, and user skill in formulating queries has much to do with how quickly the desired information is located.
Tips:
1) use dictionaries and glossaries to fully understand terminology and find related words and phrases so to create better queries.
2) compartment your search by first querying to locate more specific databases likely to contain the information you seek - thus instead of trying to query a search engine for 'How do I fix abc on my computer?', locate the Microsoft Data Base or Computer Help Forums and submit your query there.
3) try alternative search engines and directories if your favorite engine does not yield the information you want.
4) when you find a particularly helpful site or reference, bookmark it, and keep bookmarks organized (and thus handy) by placing them in subject folders. For example here are some Fun and Useful bookmarks.
Good luck and good computing.
Webopedia - searchable encyclopedia, very handy with links to related word definitions for greater understanding
What is ?com - searchable encyclopedia
Computer User - Includes HTML tag definitions
GetNetWise - Internet Terms
CSGNetwork
Beginner Undernet
Geek.com
FreewareVista Simplified Glossary
Multi-Purpose Dictionaries Plus Tech
One Look Dictionary - presents defintions, links, technical and non-technical use of words
Wikipedia
Tiscali - concise easily understood definitions
Answers.com
One Look Reverse Dictionary - type the concept to find the word
Google Search - for a quick collection of definitions type "define:" plus your word or phrase into any Google Search Box. You can also type "what is" plus your word or phrase or simply "define" plus your word or phrase.
Thesaurus.com - thesaurus and dictionary, useful reference site
Visual Thesaurus - desktop thesaurus, limited trial, cool product
Britannica - searchable, quality source
Acronym Finder - includes definitions for chat expressions like LOL (laugh out loud)
Super Red Bear Glossary - our own glossary of one-line simplified definitions for basic and common terminology.
MIcrosoft Knowledge Base - searchable database, the Microsoft Knowledge Base is the place for source documentation
Microsoft Download Center - popular downloads in numerous categories, free
The Elder Geek - MIcrosoft Knowledge Base Index
KBAlertz - facilitates searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base, sign up to receive email alerts
Animal Search - Bears are #1
JungleWalk - the ark of animal multimedia sites, great resource site for teachers
Nasa for Kids - fun and educational, interesting information, bright graphics, great for everyone
World Fact Book - high-quality resource for info on any Country, such as this section on flags
How Stuff Works - a useful and interesting site
Bits and Bytes - a simple explanation of bits and bytes. Excellent information to enhance understanding of basic computer function. From How Stuff Works.
Google Suggest - Google will suggest searches for you as you type
Google Earth - as of 24 Aug 2005 in Beta
Interesting.com - well done collection of all sorts of info
Handy Forum Reader
Vivismo Board Reader
Benchmarking
PassMark
Browsers
Mozillazine
DVD Backup
Afterdawn
General Multi-topic Tech
Major Geeks
Castle Cops
Lurk Here
Annoyances
Dell Computers
Bleeping Computer
Lockergnomes
Active Network
Geeks to Go
Windows BBS
ProNetworks
Microsoft Software Forum Network
Tankweb
Hardware
AnandTech
Hijack This Log Discussion
Aumha
Spyware Warrior
Castle Cops
Tom Coyote
Lurk Here
Bleeping Computer
Spyware Beware
Kill Spyware
Tankweb
Product Specific Forums
Agnitum Outpost Firewall
Avast
Dell Computers
Konfabulator Forum
Mozillazine
Security
Gladiator Security
Castle Cops
Wilders Security
Spyware and Virus
Spyware Warrior
Castle Cops
Lurk Here
Bleeping Computer
Spyware Beware
Kill Spyware
Tech Support
Cyber Tech Help
Amazing Techs
Tech Support Guy
PC Pitstop
Tech Support
Lurk Here
Active Network
Tek-Tips
Suggest a Fix
Tweaking
TweakTown
Website Creation & Issues
Cre8asite
Dani Web
HTML Forum
NamePros
SEO Forum
Sitepoint
Webmaster World
WebDeveloper
WebProWorld
Windows Vista
ProNetworks
Microsoft Software Forum Network
Windows XP
Windows XP Discussion Groups
Microsoft Software Forum Network
About
blinkx
Clusty - a Vivisimo site, heralded as Next-Generation Search, uses meta-search and clustering. Check out Clusty Toolbar, a simple and polished toolbar to easily access Clusty results
Dogpile - searches Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves, see overlap comparison test
Gigablast
Google
Ice Rocket - results with image of page
ixquick
Kanoodle
Kart00 - unique interactive visual results
Lycos
Mamma
Metacrawler
Meta Eureka
MSN - also see SRC (Beta) for search results clustering using the MSN engine
Search.com - searches dozens of leading search engines to yield quality results, integrates into Firefox Search Bar
SRC (Beta) - search results clustering using the MSN engine, quite handy, looks like the wave of the future. See also the Microsoft Research Shared Source SRC Toolbar for handy access to the SRC Engine
Start.com - combines MSN search with a simple customizable start page - select specific feeds, Dilbert, news categories, weather and more
Surfwax
Technorati - fast blog search
Turbo10 - searches approximately 800 subject specific 'Deep Net' search engines for results typically inaccessible to major search engines
Ujinko
Vivisimo
Wisenut
Yahoo
WebFerret - provides one-line search results listed on a single page with an abstract