How To: Internet Searching Tips

Posted on December 27, 2016November 30, 2019 by Gail Eddy in Google, Tips

Internet Searching Tips:

More than once I have been extremely frustrated trying to find something on the internet. Internet searching either gives WAY too much information or info that isn’t relevant. Most of the tips I will share with you I’ve picked up bit by bit. I’m hoping they will help you.

Exact Match:

When you use quotation marks, you only search for what is inside the quotes. For example:

Coffeehouses “live music”

will bring up all the coffeehouses that have live music.

Exclusion:

When you use the minus sign, you’ll exclude that information from your search. For example:

“Scottish Novels: -“Outlander”

will bring up information about many novels that occur in Scotland except the Outlander series.

Wild Card:

When you use the asterisk with another word or phrase, you’ll get lots of different options. For example:

Hollywood *

will provide results like “Hollywood Bowl”, “Hollywood Blacklist”, and “Hollywood movies”.

Specific Web Site:

Do you want to search within a specific web site? Use “site:website”. For example:

“Jerry Lewis” site:nyt.com

will bring up articles relating to Jerry Lewis on the New York Times site.

Have you used Google’s Search Tabs? Underneath Google’s search bar, there are a number of options. For example:

WEB NEWS IMAGES VIDEOS BOOKS MORE SEARCH TOOLS

News:

If you are looking specifically for a news story that occurred in the last 24 hours, follow these steps:

Firstly, Enter your search terms in the search bar.
Secondly, Click on the News tab.
Third, Click on the Search Tools Tab
Last, Click on “Anytime” and select “24 hours” from the drop-down menu

Images:

If you’re looking for an image, enter a description in the search bar and then click on the Images Tab. If you want to fine-tune your search, then you can add other criteria. Click on “Search Tools” and then, select the color, type of image, usage rights, etc.

Location:

If you want to find something in a particular location, click on “Search Tools”, then click on “Location”, then type in where you would like to search. For example:

“Hot Springs” California

will bring up a list of all the hot springs in California.

You can also print out this cheat sheet from Google:

Have you used any of these Internet Searching tips? Are there other tips you use? Please share them in the comments below!

Conclusion:

Using these Internet Searching Tips will save you time!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free and fast shipping. With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Year End Technology Tips

Posted on December 20, 2016March 23, 2018 by Gail Eddy in backup, Technology Tips, Tips

It’s the end of the year. Here are some Technology Tips of things that you should be doing!

Check Your WiFi Speed

Are you getting what you’re paying for? First, using your smartphone or on your computer, head over to SpeedTest. Then click on “Begin Test”. Have you signed up for the 10 Mbps plan but you’re only getting 6? Plug your computer directly to your router, then check it again. Sometimes there is a degradation of speed through the walls of your home. If it’s still below your threshold, check it again over the next few days, keeping a log. If your WiFi speed is consistently under your contracted speed (while plugged into the router), call your ISP. Tell them about your findings, then ask them to fix the issue AND request a refund for the time when they weren’t providing you with the contracted bandwidth.

Back Up Your Data

Yes, you probably should be doing this monthly. So, make the geeks happy and at least do it at the end of the year. As a result, if your hard drive happens to crash, you’ll at least have the one backup.

Change Your Password

First of all, take the time to change your password on all of your banking sites. Then, change the password on your social media sites. Finally, change the password on all of the other sites that you regularly log in to. I recently wrote a blog on creating a good secure password. You can find that here. (But, yes, you probably should be changing your passwords more frequently than once a year!)

Organize Your Files

Organize your photos by year and month. First of all, under your “My Photos” or “Camera Uploads” file, create a new folder for 2016. Then under that folder, create twelve more folders, one for each month. Next, select all the photos you took last January, drag and drop them into the January folder. Then, do that for each month. If you’re on a roll, or have time to kill, do the same for photos you took in 2015, 2014, and so on. It makes it much easier to look for the photos of your vacation in the June 2015 folder, than to search through one massive folder for those photos. For more info on organizing your files, check this blog I wrote last year.

Were these Technology Tips helpful? What else do you do at the end of the year?

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I will try the Kindle lending library next. Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 day for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission when you sign up.)

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Movie Reviews From Computer Geeks

Posted on December 13, 2016December 15, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Entertainment, Tips

Movie Review Sites

It’s the holiday season and, in our family, we tend to head to the movies more than any other time of year. Usually it’s the Geek blockbusters that we want to see – the newest Star Wars or Harry Potter or Star Trek. If none of those appeal to us, we head online to see which new movies are highly rated. Here are some of the websites we use for movie reviews:

IMDb

The Internet Movie Database is my favorite website for movies and TV shows. It tells you what is playing in the theaters, and how other people have rated those movies. (If you create an account, you can rate movies too.) Most movies and TV shows have a complete listing of all the actors and directors. IMDb has been very helpful when I’ve forgotten the name of a particular movie but can remember two or three of the actors. What was that old movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? Head over to IMDb to find out!

Rotten Tomatoes

I have been hearing about this site for years. For many of my friends, Rotten Tomatoes is their go-to site for movie reviews. Rotten Tomatoes shows ratings for new movies, movies on TV tonight, and soon-to-be released films. Their secret? The Tomatometer® is “based on the published opinions of hundreds of film and television critics – is a trusted measurement of movie and TV programming quality for millions of moviegoers. It represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show.”

Fandango

When we know we want to see a movie, now, we head to Fandango to see what’s playing, now (or in the next 20 minutes!), at our favorite theater. It gives times and descriptions.

NY Times

If it’s a Sunday that I have happened to pick up the Times, I’ll take a look at their movie reviews. What I like about them is that they’re not just reviewing the big theater movies. They’re reviewing movies at the little community theaters, the art theaters, etc. So, you hear about movies that the big sites aren’t reviewing.

Happy Holidays!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fifteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet. Maybe I’ll try that next! Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 day for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission when you sign up.)

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5 Navigation Apps To Get You Where You’re Going

Posted on December 6, 2016December 5, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Tips, Travel

I got our first GPS way back in 2005. (Way before smartphones and Navigation Apps!) It was the perfect gift for Chris so that he could easily find his way to our customers homes and businesses. In the past ten years, GPS and mobile navigation in general has changed tremendously. Now, Smartphone apps include traffic problems, construction detours, and multiple alternate routes. It’s nice to be out there with your iPhone, Android, or other smartphone, so you’re able to get where you’re going with minimal issues.

Navigation Apps

My favorite app is the one that came with my iPhone. It’s simply called “Maps”, so I use it on all of my road trips. There have been a few times when it has steered me wrong, but mostly it is right on. One issue I have with it though, is that it is a battery drainer. So for long road trips, I keep my phone plugged in and charging when I have the Map app running. Another issue is that it doesn’t allow me to take a prettier back road without telling me to “make a U-Turn”!

Other Navigation apps that people like include:

Google Maps

This is what I use at my desk computer to help plan road trips. Firstly, it synchronizes nicely with Google Calendar. Secondly, I like that it shows me local businesses who have a Google listing. However, the smartphone app doesn’t show accidents or construction, so I don’t use it on the road. Available for iPhone, Android

Waze

This is a highly rated app and not only gives you info on Traffic, but also upcoming Hazards, as well as Gas Prices, etc. When I downloaded it I noticed some problems right away. First of all, it won’t give you directions to a location more than 999 miles away. Also, you have to drive at least 100 miles with Waze on before it will tell you where the cheap gas is. So, while others rate Waze highly, it gets a pass from me! Available for iPhone Android Windows

Komoot

I wish I’d known about this app before my kids started and finished the Appalachian Trail. Techlicious writes “This navigation app from a German startup covers an exhaustive range of North American bike paths and mountain trails, with topographic maps for hiking and biking routes near you. Its database is built from open-source info as well as user-submitted data to suggest trails for different fitness levels.” Available for Android & iOS

CoPilot

I haven’t used Co-Pilot, but I like that you can download your map ahead of time. Consequently, you’ll save on data. Techlicious writes “A full-fat nav app like CoPilot is a good idea if you’re overseas, for instance, and don’t want to use roaming data or depend on Wi-Fi stops to update Google Maps.” Available from copilotgps.com

Which of these apps do you use? Are there others that that I didn’t include? Let me know your favorites in the comments below!

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Month: December 2016

How To: Internet Searching Tips

Internet Searching Tips:

Exact Match:

Exclusion:

Wild Card:

Specific Web Site:

More:

News:

Images:

Location:

Conclusion:

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

Movie Reviews From Computer Geeks

Movie Review Sites

IMDb

Rotten Tomatoes

Fandango

NY Times

5 Navigation Apps To Get You Where You’re Going

Navigation Apps

Google Maps

Waze

Komoot

CoPilot