Once you get on to the Internet, you need to know how to find the Web sites and newsgroups that interest you. You may find that it's fun just to wander, or surf, from site to site. But if you want to find something specific and find it as soon as possible, you need to use a search engine. Below you’ll find information on how to find the search engine and newsgroups that suit your needs. Or jump to Tips for Searching for hints on how to get the most out of your search.

• Search engines: Finding the needle in the haystack
• Which search engine should I use?
• Deja.com: Searching for newsgroups

Search engines: Finding the needle in the haystack

A search engine is a service that indexes, organizes, and often rates and reviews Web sites. It helps you find the one needle you're looking for in the Internet haystack. Different search engines work in different ways:

• Some rely on people to maintain a catalog of Web sites or pages.
• Some use software to identify key information on sites across the Internet.
• Some combine both types of service.

So when you search their "holdings," you're bound to get different results.

Which search engine should I use?

No search engine keeps track of all the content on the Internet. Even the major search engines—such as MSN™ Web Search, AltaVista, Infoseek, Lycos, and Snap—won't give you everything. (Some studies indicate that even the top search engines find less than half of what's really out there!) So try several search engines to see which produce the most useful results for the types of information you usually look for. Whenever a search fails to produce the results you want, try another search engine.

Here's a quick introduction to some of the major search engines:

• MSN Web Search. Using this search page, you can conduct a basic Web search or an advanced search, specifying one or more of the following: the type of information, the language, the origin, the domain, the date created, and the types of files contained in the Web page.
• AltaVista. At AltaVista, you can search for keywords or type your query in the form of a question. Other features include Babelfish, which translates sites in several languages; Photo & Media Finder, which searches for images; and Family Filter, which helps you limit the types of results produced by the search.
• Infoseek. Infoseek's search engine boasts an extensive catalog of sites. Infoseek has a directory, too, that categorizes sites by topic using software. Some sites have been reviewed and are recommended.
• Lycos. Like Excite and Infoseek, Lycos is a search engine with a directory, organized by subject.
• Snap. Snap is a directory of Web sites that the Snap directory team has chosen, divided into topic areas, and summarized. Within each topic area, sites are divided into more specific subjects to help you locate the type of information you want. Snap's top picks are marked with a Best icon.
• Excite. A hybrid search engine, Excite fulfills the traditional search engine definition (it is always visiting Web sites and cataloging them using a software program) but also has a directory—a subsection of its cataloged sites that have been reviewed by people.
• Yahoo! This is actually a directory rather than a search engine, meaning humans compile and categorize the sites it searches. So you may get fewer results. But Yahoo! makes it easy to search for sites by category and to continue your search using a search engine if you want to.
• MetaCrawler. Rather than keeping its own database of Web sites, MetaCrawler conducts your search simultaneously on several search engines including Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, and Yahoo! This takes a little longer than using just one search engine, but it is likely to yield a more comprehensive set of results.

Major search sites generally provide more than a search engine for finding Web sites. They also allow you to look up information such as recent news stories, newsgroup postings, reference material (such as dictionary entries and maps), and e-mail addresses, street addresses, and telephone numbers of business and individuals.

Here are two guidelines for picking a search engine:

• If you're looking for a broad, common topic, such as how to buy a personal computer, use a search engine that tends to give you fewer results of higher quality (usually the type that relies on people to catalog sites), such as Yahoo!
• If you're looking for a rare topic, such as 19th-century Hungarian authors, use a site that may be less discriminating but yields more results (usually the type compiled by a software program), such as Excite.

Sites to visit

• MSN Web Search - choose MSN or another engine to search the Web
• AltaVista
• Infoseek
• Lycos
• Snap
• Excite
• Yahoo!
• MetaCrawler
• Search Microsoft.com

Deja.com: Searching for newsgroups

Usenet newsgroups are Internet discussion groups on just about any topic you can imagine. There are more than 50,000 newsgroups, and more are added all the time. Do you suffer from migraines? Check out the alt.support.headaches.migraine newsgroup for support. Are you the owner of hunting dogs? Visit rec.hunting.dogs. Here are some more examples of newsgroups to give you an idea of the variety that's out there:

• sci.physics.fusion
• soc.genealogy.hispanic
• rec.arts.animation
• alt.autos.antique

And, of course, there are plenty of newsgroups about computing.

The Deja.com search engine allows you to search millions of newsgroup messages to find a specific topic that interests you. It also allows you to post your own message in response to what you read.

Sites to visit

• Deja.com