Here’s something you might not expect: MSN Search contains a fairly advanced
search engine—more advanced, in some ways, than Google. One of the cool
things about MSN Search is that you can use Boolean operators to fine-tune
your searches. All you have to do is insert the appropriate operators when you
enter your query in the search box and MSN Search will narrow your search
accordingly.
AND
The first Boolean operator you can use with MSN Search is the AND operator.
You use the AND operator to make sure that search results include both (or all)
the words in your query. So, for example, you wanted to search for pages about
Toyota Supras, you’d enter toyota AND supra.
Of course, you don’t actually have to use the AND operator; all MSN searches
are AND searches by default. So the AND is implied, and including it in your
query is superfluous. Sorry.
OR
More interesting is the OR operator. You use the OR operator to conduct
either/or searches. So, for example, if you wanted to search for pages about
either hurricanes or tornadoes, you’d enter hurricanes OR tornadoes. The
search results page will include hurricane pages, tornado pages, and even (but
not exclusively) pages about both hurricanes and tornadoes.
NOT
The third Boolean operator supported by MSN Search is the NOT operator. You
use the NOT operator to exclude specified words from your search results. So,
for example, if you wanted to search for all Presidents of the United States
except for Richard Nixon, you’d enter presidents NOT nixon.
MSN Search also lets you use the non-Boolean “plus” (+) and “minus” (-)
operators to include and exclude words from your search.
Stringing Together Multiple Operators
MSN Search also lets you string together multiple Boolean operators together
in a complex query. The operators work in order from left to right, just as if you
were constructing an algebraic equation.
Here are a few examples:
To search for cowboy movies that don’t star Randolph Scott, enter cow
boy AND movies NOT scott
To search for fashion models that aren’t blondes or redheads, enter
models NOT blondes OR redheads
To search for recipes using either beef or chicken, enter recipes AND
beef OR chicken
And so on.
Exact Phrase Search
There’s one more operator to mention, even if it isn’t technically a Boolean one.
That’s the “exact phrase” operator—the quotation mark. When you want to
restrict your search to an exact phrase, simply enclose the entire phrase in quo
tation marks. So if you’re searching for the play The Taming of the Shrew, enter
“the taming of the shrew”. It’s that simple.
.
When you conduct a search with MSN Search, the search results page (like the
one shown in Figure 2-5) includes four different types of results. At the very top
of the page is a listing of Popular Topics that you can use to help refine your
search. Next up is a short list of Featured Sites, followed by a longer list of Web
Directory Sites, and then the much longer list of Web Pages. The sum total of all
these results provides a “best of all worlds” search, unique among the major
search sites; you get a blend of high-quality human-edited directory listings
and high-volume automated search index listings.
So how do the four different types of search results differ? Read on to learn this
secret behind the search.
There’s actually a fifth category of results that pop up from time to time—
Sponsored Sites. These listings are paid for by advertisers and are pro
grammed to appear when certain keywords are entered into a search query.
Popular Topics :
The Popular Topics listings at the top of the search results page are searches
related to your query, ideally designed to help you narrow down your results.
Click one of these links to start a new search and display a new search results
page.
Featured Sites :
Featured Sites are sites that are manually assembled by MSN’s team of editors.
MSN’s editors monitor the most popular searches being performed with MSN
Search and hand-pick sites they believe to be most relevant to these searches.
Those sites appear in the Featured Sites section.
Note that the Featured Sites section won’t appear on all search results pages;
the more obscure your query, the less likely that MSN’s editors have researched
the topic. In addition, MSN will sometimes use this section to provide links to
articles in the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia, related MSNBC news articles, or
related MSN content.
Web Directory Sites :
The next big section on the search results page isWeb Directory Sites. These
results come from the LookSmart directory, which (like the Yahoo! Directory) is
a hand-picked listing of the best sites on the Web. These are quality results that
are definitely worth checking out.
Microsoft has announced that it’s not renewing its deal with LookSmart,
which means that LookSmart directory results are here for the short term
only. Expect the LookSmart results to be replaced by results from Microsoft’s
soon-to-be-announced proprietary search tool.
Web Pages :
The bulk of MSN’s search results fall into the Web Pages category. These results
derive from the Inktomi search index, which lists three billion Web pages. You
can compare Inktomi results to those from Google, which uses similar software-
driven search technology.
While MSN currently uses Inktomi for its search index, that might not be a
long-term relationship. Sources say that Microsoft is developing its own pro
prietary search technology. When the time is right, expect Inktomi to be
kicked out in favor of Microsoft’s home-grown search results—especially
because Inktomi is now owned by Yahoo!, Microsoft’s chief portal rival.
one shown in Figure 2-5) includes four different types of results. At the very top
of the page is a listing of Popular Topics that you can use to help refine your
search. Next up is a short list of Featured Sites, followed by a longer list of Web
Directory Sites, and then the much longer list of Web Pages. The sum total of all
these results provides a “best of all worlds” search, unique among the major
search sites; you get a blend of high-quality human-edited directory listings
and high-volume automated search index listings.
So how do the four different types of search results differ? Read on to learn this
secret behind the search.
There’s actually a fifth category of results that pop up from time to time—
Sponsored Sites. These listings are paid for by advertisers and are pro
grammed to appear when certain keywords are entered into a search query.
Popular Topics :
The Popular Topics listings at the top of the search results page are searches
related to your query, ideally designed to help you narrow down your results.
Click one of these links to start a new search and display a new search results
page.
Featured Sites :
Featured Sites are sites that are manually assembled by MSN’s team of editors.
MSN’s editors monitor the most popular searches being performed with MSN
Search and hand-pick sites they believe to be most relevant to these searches.
Those sites appear in the Featured Sites section.
Note that the Featured Sites section won’t appear on all search results pages;
the more obscure your query, the less likely that MSN’s editors have researched
the topic. In addition, MSN will sometimes use this section to provide links to
articles in the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia, related MSNBC news articles, or
related MSN content.
Web Directory Sites :
The next big section on the search results page isWeb Directory Sites. These
results come from the LookSmart directory, which (like the Yahoo! Directory) is
a hand-picked listing of the best sites on the Web. These are quality results that
are definitely worth checking out.
Microsoft has announced that it’s not renewing its deal with LookSmart,
which means that LookSmart directory results are here for the short term
only. Expect the LookSmart results to be replaced by results from Microsoft’s
soon-to-be-announced proprietary search tool.
Web Pages :
The bulk of MSN’s search results fall into the Web Pages category. These results
derive from the Inktomi search index, which lists three billion Web pages. You
can compare Inktomi results to those from Google, which uses similar software-
driven search technology.
While MSN currently uses Inktomi for its search index, that might not be a
long-term relationship. Sources say that Microsoft is developing its own pro
prietary search technology. When the time is right, expect Inktomi to be
kicked out in favor of Microsoft’s home-grown search results—especially
because Inktomi is now owned by Yahoo!, Microsoft’s chief portal rival.
As nice as the MSN Home page is, it’s a trifle cluttered. Fortunately, you can
fine-tune MSN’s content to create your own personal version of an MSN start
page, and use it to display both local and personalized information.
MSN’s personalized start page is called My MSN. You get to it by clicking the My
MSN link at the top of the MSN Home page, or by going directly to my.msn.com.
You can customize My MSN to display a variety of different content, as shown in
Figure 2-4. You can also customize the page colors and layout (in a three-column
design), all by clicking the appropriate links at the top of the My MSN page.
Given the wide assortment of content available, you can use My MSN to display
only those items of direct interest, such as your local news and weather.
Once you have your My MSN page set up, configure your Web browser so that
My MSN is your browser’s start page. That way you’ll go to the news and infor
mation you want whenever you launch your browser.
fine-tune MSN’s content to create your own personal version of an MSN start
page, and use it to display both local and personalized information.
MSN’s personalized start page is called My MSN. You get to it by clicking the My
MSN link at the top of the MSN Home page, or by going directly to my.msn.com.
You can customize My MSN to display a variety of different content, as shown in
Figure 2-4. You can also customize the page colors and layout (in a three-column
design), all by clicking the appropriate links at the top of the My MSN page.
Given the wide assortment of content available, you can use My MSN to display
only those items of direct interest, such as your local news and weather.
Once you have your My MSN page set up, configure your Web browser so that
My MSN is your browser’s start page. That way you’ll go to the news and infor
mation you want whenever you launch your browser.
If you do use MSN Internet access to connect to the Web, you get a nice little
bonus—the use of MSN Explorer. MSN Explorer is meant to be a frontend to the
Internet, much like that provided by America Online to its subscribers. In real
ity, however, MSN Explorer is a customized version of the Internet Explorer
Web browser—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you know how to use IE,
you know how to use MSN Explorer.
As you can see in Figure 2-3, MSN Explorer includes a number of buttons on
top of what would normally be called the browser window. These buttons take
you directly to MSN channels and services; think of them as shortcut links.
The other function of MSN Explorer is to actually connect you to the Internet.
You use MSN Explorer to dial into the MSN service (if you’re connecting via
dial-up), or to perform log in functions if you’re connecting via broadband.
You’re provided with a sign-in screen that displays your different user names;
click a name to connect and sign in.
Of course, you don’t have to use MSN Explorer to access the MSN portal. Even
if you’re using MSN Explorer to connect to the Internet, once you get connected
you can launch Internet Explorer (or any other Web browser) and access the
MSN site from there. Other than the dedicated channel buttons, there’s nothing
special about MSN Explorer that’s necessary to use the MSN site; you can also
access it via the IE, Netscape, or Opera browsers.
bonus—the use of MSN Explorer. MSN Explorer is meant to be a frontend to the
Internet, much like that provided by America Online to its subscribers. In real
ity, however, MSN Explorer is a customized version of the Internet Explorer
Web browser—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you know how to use IE,
you know how to use MSN Explorer.
As you can see in Figure 2-3, MSN Explorer includes a number of buttons on
top of what would normally be called the browser window. These buttons take
you directly to MSN channels and services; think of them as shortcut links.
The other function of MSN Explorer is to actually connect you to the Internet.
You use MSN Explorer to dial into the MSN service (if you’re connecting via
dial-up), or to perform log in functions if you’re connecting via broadband.
You’re provided with a sign-in screen that displays your different user names;
click a name to connect and sign in.
Of course, you don’t have to use MSN Explorer to access the MSN portal. Even
if you’re using MSN Explorer to connect to the Internet, once you get connected
you can launch Internet Explorer (or any other Web browser) and access the
MSN site from there. Other than the dedicated channel buttons, there’s nothing
special about MSN Explorer that’s necessary to use the MSN site; you can also
access it via the IE, Netscape, or Opera browsers.
As you’re well aware, not every page on the Web is suitable for underage view
ing. Fortunately, Yahoo! offers several options that help you protect your chil
dren from inappropriate content online.
Yahoo’s Mature Content Filter
The first line of defense is to filter inappropriate content from Yahoo!’s search
results. Yahoo! offers a Mature Content Filter you can apply when searching;
with this filter activated, Web pages containing sex or language or other bad
stuff are automatically deleted from all search results.
To activate Yahoo!’s Mature Content filter, click the Preferences link next to the
Search button on Yahoo!’s home page. Scroll down the Search Preferences page
to the Mature Content Filter section; you can choose from Strict (filters text and
images) or Moderate (filters images only) filtering, or turn the filter off.
Yahoo! Family Accounts
Another available option is to create a Yahoo! Family Account. This enables you
to create separate Yahoo! IDs for each of your children. You can then control
what information your children give to Yahoo!—and determine which Yahoo!
features your children can and can’t access.
The key to managing your Family Account is to create separate Yahoo! IDs for
each of your children. There are two classes of children’s IDs available with
Yahoo! Family Accounts: Under 13 and 13 to 18. Each age class has its own
unique restrictions as part of a Family Account. Under 13 IDs are prohibited
from entering any personal information online, participating in auctions or per
sonals, or accessing any adult areas. The 13 to 18 IDs are only prohibited from
participating in auctions and accessing adult areas—but they can leave per
sonal information online.
In addition, the primary ID on a Family Account (meaning you!) can log into
Yahoo! under any of the other IDs. This enables you to monitor and make
changes to your child’s account using all of Yahoo!’s various tools—such as
blocklists, buddy lists, and so on.
Creating a Family Account is similar to creating a regular Yahoo! account. The
big difference is that—to establish the age of the primary account member—
you have to enter a credit card number. (The assumption is that no one under 18
has a credit card.) Yahoo! will not make charges to your card; it only uses the
card for age ID purposes.
To create your Family Account, go to family.yahoo.com. You should see the
Welcome to Yahoo! Family Accounts page; click the Sign Me Up link and com
plete the steps as instructed. (If you already have a Yahoo! account, just enter
your Yahoo! ID and Password.)
Once you’ve created an account, you can add a new child ID for each of your
children. From the Yahoo! Family Accounts page, click the Add Child Account
button and follow the onscreen instructions.
Yahooligans!
Even better than filtering your children’s Internet usage, why not give them
their own kids-safe start page to use when they’re surfing? Yahoo! provides just
such a page—called Yahooligans!
Yahooligans! (www.yahooligans.com) is a kids-oriented directory that is part of
the Yahoo! network of sites. Each site listed in the Yahooligans! directory has
been carefully checked by an experienced educator to ensure that the site’s
content is appropriate for children aged 7 to 12.
As you can see in Figure 1-11, Yahooligans! works just like the main Yahoo! Web
directory, which means you can find sites by either browsing through categories
or directly searching. The difference is that this directory includes categories and
sites of particular interest to children and teenagers—as well as additional fea
tures and services.
In addition to all the cool kids-friendly content, Yahooligans! offers a few other
neat features to help protect your children online. For example, when you con
duct a search on Yahooligans!, it searches only the Yahooligans! directory—it
doesn’t back out to the Web for a larger (unsupervised) index search. And the
Yahooligans! directory doesn’t include sites with any content inappropriate for
younger Web surfers, so it’s completely kids-safe.
In other words, Yahooligans! is the perfect start page for your kids.
Yahooligans! is more than just a directory of family-friendly Web sites.
Yahooligans! also includes a variety of fun and informational services, from
downloadable pictures to interactive online games.
.
ing. Fortunately, Yahoo! offers several options that help you protect your chil
dren from inappropriate content online.
Yahoo’s Mature Content Filter
The first line of defense is to filter inappropriate content from Yahoo!’s search
results. Yahoo! offers a Mature Content Filter you can apply when searching;
with this filter activated, Web pages containing sex or language or other bad
stuff are automatically deleted from all search results.
To activate Yahoo!’s Mature Content filter, click the Preferences link next to the
Search button on Yahoo!’s home page. Scroll down the Search Preferences page
to the Mature Content Filter section; you can choose from Strict (filters text and
images) or Moderate (filters images only) filtering, or turn the filter off.
Yahoo! Family Accounts
Another available option is to create a Yahoo! Family Account. This enables you
to create separate Yahoo! IDs for each of your children. You can then control
what information your children give to Yahoo!—and determine which Yahoo!
features your children can and can’t access.
The key to managing your Family Account is to create separate Yahoo! IDs for
each of your children. There are two classes of children’s IDs available with
Yahoo! Family Accounts: Under 13 and 13 to 18. Each age class has its own
unique restrictions as part of a Family Account. Under 13 IDs are prohibited
from entering any personal information online, participating in auctions or per
sonals, or accessing any adult areas. The 13 to 18 IDs are only prohibited from
participating in auctions and accessing adult areas—but they can leave per
sonal information online.
In addition, the primary ID on a Family Account (meaning you!) can log into
Yahoo! under any of the other IDs. This enables you to monitor and make
changes to your child’s account using all of Yahoo!’s various tools—such as
blocklists, buddy lists, and so on.
Creating a Family Account is similar to creating a regular Yahoo! account. The
big difference is that—to establish the age of the primary account member—
you have to enter a credit card number. (The assumption is that no one under 18
has a credit card.) Yahoo! will not make charges to your card; it only uses the
card for age ID purposes.
To create your Family Account, go to family.yahoo.com. You should see the
Welcome to Yahoo! Family Accounts page; click the Sign Me Up link and com
plete the steps as instructed. (If you already have a Yahoo! account, just enter
your Yahoo! ID and Password.)
Once you’ve created an account, you can add a new child ID for each of your
children. From the Yahoo! Family Accounts page, click the Add Child Account
button and follow the onscreen instructions.
Yahooligans!
Even better than filtering your children’s Internet usage, why not give them
their own kids-safe start page to use when they’re surfing? Yahoo! provides just
such a page—called Yahooligans!
Yahooligans! (www.yahooligans.com) is a kids-oriented directory that is part of
the Yahoo! network of sites. Each site listed in the Yahooligans! directory has
been carefully checked by an experienced educator to ensure that the site’s
content is appropriate for children aged 7 to 12.
As you can see in Figure 1-11, Yahooligans! works just like the main Yahoo! Web
directory, which means you can find sites by either browsing through categories
or directly searching. The difference is that this directory includes categories and
sites of particular interest to children and teenagers—as well as additional fea
tures and services.
In addition to all the cool kids-friendly content, Yahooligans! offers a few other
neat features to help protect your children online. For example, when you con
duct a search on Yahooligans!, it searches only the Yahooligans! directory—it
doesn’t back out to the Web for a larger (unsupervised) index search. And the
Yahooligans! directory doesn’t include sites with any content inappropriate for
younger Web surfers, so it’s completely kids-safe.
In other words, Yahooligans! is the perfect start page for your kids.
Yahooligans! is more than just a directory of family-friendly Web sites.
Yahooligans! also includes a variety of fun and informational services, from
downloadable pictures to interactive online games.
.
With everything Yahoo! has to offer, it’s not surprising that many users use
Yahoo! as their start page for all their Web travels. While the normal Yahoo!
home page is an okay start page, it’s rather generic. Wouldn’t it be better to cre
ate your own personal version of Yahoo!, comprised of those services that you
use most every day?
Well, Yahoo! makes it easy to create your own personal Yahoo!. It’s called My
Yahoo!, where you can pick and choose what you see—and what you don’t
see—every time you log on.
My Yahoo! is located at my.yahoo.com. Easy to remember, eh? The first time
you visit My Yahoo!, you must register for the service and customize your page.
After that, each time you go to My Yahoo!, you’ll see your Yahoo! page exactly
as you configured it.
After you’ve signed on, you see the generic My Yahoo! page shown in Figure
1-10. This is an okay page—it gives you an idea of what you can do with My
Yahoo!—but the whole point of using My Yahoo! is to create a customized page,
which you can do quite easily.
My Yahoo! can display a variety of different types of content, each in its own
module. It’s up to you to choose which content modules you want to display. To
select which modules are displayed on your My Yahoo! page, click the Choose
Content button. When the Personalize Page Content page appears, put a check
mark next to each module you want to display and uncheck those topics you
don’t want to display.
Most modules let you customize the content that is displayed within; for example,
you can create your own list of stocks to display in the Portfolios module and
choose what types of news are displayed in the My Front Page Headlines module.
Although the specific customization is different for each module, the general
steps you take are the same. Click the Edit button on the module you want to
customize; when the next page appears, read the instructions carefully and
then make the appropriate choices. This may include selecting or deselecting
topics, choosing how many headlines are displayed, entering stock tickers for
your portfolio, and so on.
After you’ve decided on all your content, you need to arrange that content on
your page. By default, My Yahoo! uses a two-column layout, with the left col
umn narrower than the right. You can also choose a three-column layout, with a
big center column; just click the Choose Layout button to make your selection.
You can then assign different content modules to different areas of the page.
If you don’t like the default colors of the My Yahoo! page, you can choose from
a variety of other color schemes. Just click the Change Colors button, then
choose from one of the predefined color themes—or click the Customize Theme
link to choose your own colors for each page element.
Your My Yahoo! is now complete—and ready to be changed again whenever
you feel like it!
Some modules—such as the Portfolio and Headlines modules—include a
Detach button that’s not found on other modules. When you click the
Detach button, the contents of that module are displayed in a separate win
dow on your desktop. This is a great way to display constantly updated
information (such as stock prices) while freeing up your Web browser for
other surfing.
Yahoo! as their start page for all their Web travels. While the normal Yahoo!
home page is an okay start page, it’s rather generic. Wouldn’t it be better to cre
ate your own personal version of Yahoo!, comprised of those services that you
use most every day?
Well, Yahoo! makes it easy to create your own personal Yahoo!. It’s called My
Yahoo!, where you can pick and choose what you see—and what you don’t
see—every time you log on.
My Yahoo! is located at my.yahoo.com. Easy to remember, eh? The first time
you visit My Yahoo!, you must register for the service and customize your page.
After that, each time you go to My Yahoo!, you’ll see your Yahoo! page exactly
as you configured it.
After you’ve signed on, you see the generic My Yahoo! page shown in Figure
1-10. This is an okay page—it gives you an idea of what you can do with My
Yahoo!—but the whole point of using My Yahoo! is to create a customized page,
which you can do quite easily.
My Yahoo! can display a variety of different types of content, each in its own
module. It’s up to you to choose which content modules you want to display. To
select which modules are displayed on your My Yahoo! page, click the Choose
Content button. When the Personalize Page Content page appears, put a check
mark next to each module you want to display and uncheck those topics you
don’t want to display.
Most modules let you customize the content that is displayed within; for example,
you can create your own list of stocks to display in the Portfolios module and
choose what types of news are displayed in the My Front Page Headlines module.
Although the specific customization is different for each module, the general
steps you take are the same. Click the Edit button on the module you want to
customize; when the next page appears, read the instructions carefully and
then make the appropriate choices. This may include selecting or deselecting
topics, choosing how many headlines are displayed, entering stock tickers for
your portfolio, and so on.
After you’ve decided on all your content, you need to arrange that content on
your page. By default, My Yahoo! uses a two-column layout, with the left col
umn narrower than the right. You can also choose a three-column layout, with a
big center column; just click the Choose Layout button to make your selection.
You can then assign different content modules to different areas of the page.
If you don’t like the default colors of the My Yahoo! page, you can choose from
a variety of other color schemes. Just click the Change Colors button, then
choose from one of the predefined color themes—or click the Customize Theme
link to choose your own colors for each page element.
Your My Yahoo! is now complete—and ready to be changed again whenever
you feel like it!
Some modules—such as the Portfolio and Headlines modules—include a
Detach button that’s not found on other modules. When you click the
Detach button, the contents of that module are displayed in a separate win
dow on your desktop. This is a great way to display constantly updated
information (such as stock prices) while freeing up your Web browser for
other surfing.
If you’re using Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows (or a later version), you can
add a special Yahoo! toolbar—called the Yahoo! Companion—to your Web
browser. This toolbar, shown in Figure 1-9, makes using Yahoo! easier by
adding special Yahoo!-specific buttons to your Internet Explorer browser.
Here’s some of what you’ll find on the Yahoo! Companion toolbar:
Y!—Go directly to the Yahoo! home page
Search—Initiates a Web Search (by default); pull down the Search list
to conduct directory, news, Yellow Pages, images, or maps searches
Mail—Accesses your Yahoo! Mail inbox; an alert button will also
appear when you have unread e-mail
My Yahoo!—Go directly to My Yahoo!
To download and install the Yahoo! Companion, go to the companion.yahoo.com
page and click the Get Yahoo! Companion Now button. Follow the onscreen
instructions to download the toolbar to your computer and install it into IE.
click here to download
.
add a special Yahoo! toolbar—called the Yahoo! Companion—to your Web
browser. This toolbar, shown in Figure 1-9, makes using Yahoo! easier by
adding special Yahoo!-specific buttons to your Internet Explorer browser.
Here’s some of what you’ll find on the Yahoo! Companion toolbar:
Y!—Go directly to the Yahoo! home page
Search—Initiates a Web Search (by default); pull down the Search list
to conduct directory, news, Yellow Pages, images, or maps searches
Mail—Accesses your Yahoo! Mail inbox; an alert button will also
appear when you have unread e-mail
My Yahoo!—Go directly to My Yahoo!
To download and install the Yahoo! Companion, go to the companion.yahoo.com
page and click the Get Yahoo! Companion Now button. Follow the onscreen
instructions to download the toolbar to your computer and install it into IE.
click here to download
.
We’re not through with keywords yet. There’s one more keyword you can use in
the Yahoo! search box, this one to display a dictionary definition for just about
any English-language word. Just enter the keyword define followed by the
word, like this: define word.
the Yahoo! search box, this one to display a dictionary definition for just about
any English-language word. Just enter the keyword define followed by the
word, like this: define word.
Another keyword you can use is map, which searches for maps by address, city,
or area code. Just enter this keyword along with information about a location
into the Yahoo! search box; when you click the Search button, Yahoo! displays
a small map like the one Click the View Larger Map link to view
an interactive, full-page version of this map.
To map a specific address, enter map streetaddress city state, like this: map 123
n main st minneapolis mn. To display a city map, enter map city state, like this:
map minneapolis mn. To display a map of a larger area, it’s a little different;
enter zipcode map, like this: 93932 map. You can also display country or
regional maps by entering map country like this: map australia.
or area code. Just enter this keyword along with information about a location
into the Yahoo! search box; when you click the Search button, Yahoo! displays
a small map like the one Click the View Larger Map link to view
an interactive, full-page version of this map.
To map a specific address, enter map streetaddress city state, like this: map 123
n main st minneapolis mn. To display a city map, enter map city state, like this:
map minneapolis mn. To display a map of a larger area, it’s a little different;
enter zipcode map, like this: 93932 map. You can also display country or
regional maps by entering map country like this: map australia.
Yahoo! also offers a dedicated keyword you can use to search for the latest
news headlines on a specific topic. When you use the news keyword, Yahoo!
displays the top three current headlines, Click any
headline link to display the full story.
To use this keyword, enter the following into the Yahoo! search box: news topic.
For example, to display the latest headlines about Iraq, enter news iraq.
news headlines on a specific topic. When you use the news keyword, Yahoo!
displays the top three current headlines, Click any
headline link to display the full story.
To use this keyword, enter the following into the Yahoo! search box: news topic.
For example, to display the latest headlines about Iraq, enter news iraq.
In addition to the advanced search operators discussed in Secret #2, Yahoo!
includes a number of keywords you can use to conduct specific types of
searches directly from the search box on the Yahoo! home page. The first one
we’ll look at is the keyword weather, which you use to search for local weather
forecasts.
To use this keyword, enter the keyword followed by the city and state that
you’re interested in, like this: weather city state. For example, if you want to
display the weather forecast for Chicago, enter weather chicago il into the
search box, then click the Search button. (You can also enter weather zipcode
to display the forecast for a larger area.) Yahoo! will dipslay a Yahoo! Weather
box, like the one shown in Figure 1-5, with the current conditions and forecast,
along with a link to a five-day forecast.
includes a number of keywords you can use to conduct specific types of
searches directly from the search box on the Yahoo! home page. The first one
we’ll look at is the keyword weather, which you use to search for local weather
forecasts.
To use this keyword, enter the keyword followed by the city and state that
you’re interested in, like this: weather city state. For example, if you want to
display the weather forecast for Chicago, enter weather chicago il into the
search box, then click the Search button. (You can also enter weather zipcode
to display the forecast for a larger area.) Yahoo! will dipslay a Yahoo! Weather
box, like the one shown in Figure 1-5, with the current conditions and forecast,
along with a link to a five-day forecast.
Just because you conduct one type of Yahoo! search doesn’t mean you can’t
expand your query into other types of searches. It’s as easy as clicking a new
tab on your search results page.
As you can see in Figure 1-4, there are a series of tabs at the top of each search
results page. These tabs are:
Web—The default Web search using Google’s search index
Images—Finds related photographs and images
Directory—Finds related sites listed in the Yahoo! directory
Yellow Pages—Finds related businesses
News—Searches Yahoo! News for related stories
Products—Searches Yahoo! Shopping for matching products
expand your query into other types of searches. It’s as easy as clicking a new
tab on your search results page.
As you can see in Figure 1-4, there are a series of tabs at the top of each search
results page. These tabs are:
Web—The default Web search using Google’s search index
Images—Finds related photographs and images
Directory—Finds related sites listed in the Yahoo! directory
Yellow Pages—Finds related businesses
News—Searches Yahoo! News for related stories
Products—Searches Yahoo! Shopping for matching products
As you’re discovering, Yahoo! offers a variety of search options. There’s Yahoo!
Web Search (via Google) and the Yahoo! directory, as well as separate news,
image, map, product, and Yellow Pages searches.
While you can go to each of these search pages separately, they’re all easily
accessed from the Yahoo! Search page (search.yahoo.com), shown in Figure
1-3. Just click the icon for the type of search you want to conduct, and then start
searching!
Web Search (via Google) and the Yahoo! directory, as well as separate news,
image, map, product, and Yellow Pages searches.
While you can go to each of these search pages separately, they’re all easily
accessed from the Yahoo! Search page (search.yahoo.com), shown in Figure
1-3. Just click the icon for the type of search you want to conduct, and then start
searching!
Okay, here’s another function Yahoo! shares with Google—image search. When
you access Yahoo!’s Search for Images page (img.search.yahoo.com) you’re
actually accessing Google Image Search. That’s not a bad thing; Google Image
Search is one of the best search indexes on the Web for photographs, pictures,
and other graphics. If you want to find a picture of something, this is the search
to use.
I won’t go into how to use Yahoo!’s image search function, as it’s virtually iden
tical to that of Google Image Search. Read the section on Google Image Search
in Chapter 6 to learn more.
you access Yahoo!’s Search for Images page (img.search.yahoo.com) you’re
actually accessing Google Image Search. That’s not a bad thing; Google Image
Search is one of the best search indexes on the Web for photographs, pictures,
and other graphics. If you want to find a picture of something, this is the search
to use.
I won’t go into how to use Yahoo!’s image search function, as it’s virtually iden
tical to that of Google Image Search. Read the section on Google Image Search
in Chapter 6 to learn more.
As you just learned, Yahoo!’s Web Search is powered by Google, which means
you can use all of Google’s advanced search operators to construct your search
queries. If that sounds too complicated, you can perform most of the same oper
ations using Yahoo!’s Advanced Search page. The nice thing about using
Advanced Search is that you don’t have to remember those fancy operators.
Just select the options you want from those listed and click the Search button;
Yahoo! does the rest.
You access the Advanced Search page by clicking the Advanced link next to a
particular page’s Search button. Each type of Yahoo! search has its own specific
Advanced Search page; for example, the Advanced Web Search page (shown
in Figure 1-2) includes options specific to Web searching, while the Advanced
Directory Search page includes options for finding categories in the Yahoo!
directory.
you can use all of Google’s advanced search operators to construct your search
queries. If that sounds too complicated, you can perform most of the same oper
ations using Yahoo!’s Advanced Search page. The nice thing about using
Advanced Search is that you don’t have to remember those fancy operators.
Just select the options you want from those listed and click the Search button;
Yahoo! does the rest.
You access the Advanced Search page by clicking the Advanced link next to a
particular page’s Search button. Each type of Yahoo! search has its own specific
Advanced Search page; for example, the Advanced Web Search page (shown
in Figure 1-2) includes options specific to Web searching, while the Advanced
Directory Search page includes options for finding categories in the Yahoo!
directory.
Okay, Yahoo! is known for its high-quality and well-organized Web directory.
But when you use Yahoo!’s Web Search feature, you bypass the directory
entirely and instead retrieve results supplied by a third-party search engine.
That’s right. When you use the search box on Yahoo!’s home page, you’re not
searching Yahoo!—you’re searching Google.
For some time now, Yahoo! has supplemented its directory listings with results
from a partner search engine. Early on, Yahoo! offered results from the Inktomi
search engine. Today, Yahoo! uses results provided by Google.
The contract that Yahoo! has with Google is not open-ended, which means
that when the current contract expires, it’s possible that Yahoo! might go
with a different search index provider—such as Inktomi, which Yahoo! pur
chased in March of 2003, or AllTheWeb or AltaVista, which Yahoo! acquired
later the same year. So it wouldn’t take a great stretch of the imagination to
envision Yahoo! delivering some blend of Inktomi/AllTheWeb/AltaVista
results sometime in the future, either in place of or in addition to the current
Google results.
Do your own comparison. Enter a query into the Yahoo! search box, then go to
Google (www.google.com) and enter the same query. The results should look
familiar.
Since searching with Yahoo! is the same as searching with Google, you can use
Google’s advanced search operators when you conduct a Yahoo! Web Search.
These operators help you fine-tune your search by including or excluding spe
cific words, searching for exact phrases, and narrowing your search to certain
sites or domains. There’s no point in repeating those operators twice in the
same book, so turn to Chapter 6 to learn more—then utilize those advanced
search operators the next time you construct a query on Yahoo!.
In addition to using Google’s advanced search operators, Yahoo! also has a
few special keywords of its own you can use in the home page search box.
Read Secrets #8 through #12 to learn more.
But when you use Yahoo!’s Web Search feature, you bypass the directory
entirely and instead retrieve results supplied by a third-party search engine.
That’s right. When you use the search box on Yahoo!’s home page, you’re not
searching Yahoo!—you’re searching Google.
For some time now, Yahoo! has supplemented its directory listings with results
from a partner search engine. Early on, Yahoo! offered results from the Inktomi
search engine. Today, Yahoo! uses results provided by Google.
The contract that Yahoo! has with Google is not open-ended, which means
that when the current contract expires, it’s possible that Yahoo! might go
with a different search index provider—such as Inktomi, which Yahoo! pur
chased in March of 2003, or AllTheWeb or AltaVista, which Yahoo! acquired
later the same year. So it wouldn’t take a great stretch of the imagination to
envision Yahoo! delivering some blend of Inktomi/AllTheWeb/AltaVista
results sometime in the future, either in place of or in addition to the current
Google results.
Do your own comparison. Enter a query into the Yahoo! search box, then go to
Google (www.google.com) and enter the same query. The results should look
familiar.
Since searching with Yahoo! is the same as searching with Google, you can use
Google’s advanced search operators when you conduct a Yahoo! Web Search.
These operators help you fine-tune your search by including or excluding spe
cific words, searching for exact phrases, and narrowing your search to certain
sites or domains. There’s no point in repeating those operators twice in the
same book, so turn to Chapter 6 to learn more—then utilize those advanced
search operators the next time you construct a query on Yahoo!.
In addition to using Google’s advanced search operators, Yahoo! also has a
few special keywords of its own you can use in the home page search box.
Read Secrets #8 through #12 to learn more.
The Yahoo! Directory Has Higher Quality Results than Yahoo! Web Search—but Fewer of Them
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comments
Yahoo! was created as a hand-picked directory of Web sites. Over the past
decade, however, the Yahoo! directory has become a less and less important
part of the Yahoo! pantheon of services—to the point where many users don’t
even know the directory exists. After all, if you use the search box on the
Yahoo! home page—which Yahoo! obviously wants you to do—you pass over
the directory entirely.
That’s too bad, because the Yahoo! directory is actually a pretty good assem
blage of what’s out there on the Web. It’s also arguably the easiest search site
for Web surfers to use.
It all boils down to the basic difference between a directory and a search index.
You see, there are two approaches to organizing all the information on the
World Wide Web. One approach is to use a special type of software program
(called a spider or crawler) to roam the Web automatically, feeding what it finds
back to a massive bank of computers. These computers hold indices of the
Web—in some cases, entire Web pages are indexed; in other cases, only the
titles and important words on a page are indexed. This approach is the one
taken by the big search engines, such as Google, AltaVista, and HotBot—and
by Yahoo!’s Web Search feature.
The other approach—the one taken by the Yahoo! directory—is to have actual
human beings physically look at each Web page and stick each one into a
hand-picked category. After you get enough Web pages collected, you have
something called a directory.
Unlike a search engine, a directory doesn’t search the entire Web—in fact, a
directory catalogs only a very small part of the Web. But a directory is very
organized, and very easy to use, and lots and lots of people use Web directories
(such as Yahoo!) every day.
Of course, that’s not to say that the Yahoo! directory is perfect. Far from it. For
starters, it’s small—only 2 million pages, versus 3 billion or so in Yahoo!’s Google
supplied Web Search index. (That means that Yahoo!’s directory content repre
sents less than 1⁄10 of 1 percent of the total number of pages currently published on the Web—not very comprehensive at all.)
Fortunately, you don’t have to limit yourself to the listings in the Yahoo! direc
tory; Yahoo! supplements its directory listings with search results from a third-
party search engine. Read on to learn another little secret about Yahoo!’s search
capabilities.
decade, however, the Yahoo! directory has become a less and less important
part of the Yahoo! pantheon of services—to the point where many users don’t
even know the directory exists. After all, if you use the search box on the
Yahoo! home page—which Yahoo! obviously wants you to do—you pass over
the directory entirely.
That’s too bad, because the Yahoo! directory is actually a pretty good assem
blage of what’s out there on the Web. It’s also arguably the easiest search site
for Web surfers to use.
It all boils down to the basic difference between a directory and a search index.
You see, there are two approaches to organizing all the information on the
World Wide Web. One approach is to use a special type of software program
(called a spider or crawler) to roam the Web automatically, feeding what it finds
back to a massive bank of computers. These computers hold indices of the
Web—in some cases, entire Web pages are indexed; in other cases, only the
titles and important words on a page are indexed. This approach is the one
taken by the big search engines, such as Google, AltaVista, and HotBot—and
by Yahoo!’s Web Search feature.
The other approach—the one taken by the Yahoo! directory—is to have actual
human beings physically look at each Web page and stick each one into a
hand-picked category. After you get enough Web pages collected, you have
something called a directory.
Unlike a search engine, a directory doesn’t search the entire Web—in fact, a
directory catalogs only a very small part of the Web. But a directory is very
organized, and very easy to use, and lots and lots of people use Web directories
(such as Yahoo!) every day.
Of course, that’s not to say that the Yahoo! directory is perfect. Far from it. For
starters, it’s small—only 2 million pages, versus 3 billion or so in Yahoo!’s Google
supplied Web Search index. (That means that Yahoo!’s directory content repre
sents less than 1⁄10 of 1 percent of the total number of pages currently published on the Web—not very comprehensive at all.)
Fortunately, you don’t have to limit yourself to the listings in the Yahoo! direc
tory; Yahoo! supplements its directory listings with search results from a third-
party search engine. Read on to learn another little secret about Yahoo!’s search
capabilities.
Use the Direct Address :-
Even better, almost every Yahoo! service has its own unique URL that you can enter directly into your browser’s address box, or bookmark as necessary. You might think that remembering dozens of unique URLs would be difficult. And, of course, you’d be right—if you actually had to memorize the URLs. Fortunately, Yahoo! uses an address scheme that’s easy on the old memory, thanks to its common-sense nature. Yahoo!’s address scheme is simple. Just take the yahoo.com domain and add the service name in front of it, like this: service.yahoo.com. So, for example, if you want to go to Yahoo! News, you enter news.yahoo.com. If you want to go to Yahoo! Mail, enter mail.yahoo.com.
Even better, almost every Yahoo! service has its own unique URL that you can enter directly into your browser’s address box, or bookmark as necessary. You might think that remembering dozens of unique URLs would be difficult. And, of course, you’d be right—if you actually had to memorize the URLs. Fortunately, Yahoo! uses an address scheme that’s easy on the old memory, thanks to its common-sense nature. Yahoo!’s address scheme is simple. Just take the yahoo.com domain and add the service name in front of it, like this: service.yahoo.com. So, for example, if you want to go to Yahoo! News, you enter news.yahoo.com. If you want to go to Yahoo! Mail, enter mail.yahoo.com.
| Yahoo! home page | www.yahoo.com |
| Yahooligans! | www.yahooligans.com |
| My Yahoo! | my.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Address Book | address.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Astrology | astrology.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Auctions | auctions.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Autos | autos.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Banking Center | banking.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Bookmarks | bookmarks.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Briefcase | briefcase.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Buzz Index | buzz.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! by Phone | phone.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Calendar | calendar.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Chat | chat.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Classifieds | classifieds.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Companion (toolbar) | companion.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Education | education.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Entertainment | entertainment.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Fantasy Sports | fantasysports.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Finance | finance.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Games | games.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! GeoCities | geocities.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Get Local | local.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Greetings | greetings.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Groups | groups.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Health | health.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! HotJobs | hotjobs.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Insurance | Center insurance.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Launch (music) | launch.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Loan Center | loan.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Lottery Results | lottery.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Mail | mail.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Mail Plus | mailplus.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Maps | maps.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Message Boards | messages.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Messenger | messenger.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Mobile | mobile.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Movies | movies.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! News | news.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! PayDirect | paydirect.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! People Search | people.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Personals | personals.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Pets | pets.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Photos | photos.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Picture Gallery | gallery.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Products Search | products.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Real Estate | realestate.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Shopping | shopping.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Small Business | smallbusiness.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Sports | sports.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Store | store.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Tax Center | taxes.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Travel | travel.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! TV | tv.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Wallet | wallet.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Weather | weather.yahoo.com |
| Yahoo! Web Hosting | webhosting.yahoo.com |
Not a Windows XP SP3 beta tester, but can't wait for the official release? Or just like to stay on the bleeding edge? There's a way you can get access to it via Windows Update.
It does involve editing the registry, but it's not that difficult.Here's all you need to do. You need to create the following
key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\WindowsUpdate\XPSP3
Then create the string value RCPreview below that key, and give it the
value:1c667073-b87f-4f52-a479-98c85711d869
If you had previously had a version of SP3 earlier, you might already have the registry key; just make sure only the string value RCPreview exists in the key when you're done.
Once the key is in your registry, if you go to Windows Update, you'll see you can download SP3 RC1, as above. I've tried it (obviously, since that's my screenshot) and it works.Of course, your mileage may vary, and changes to your registry should be made with care.
Naturally I recommend you back up your registry before trying this, and there's also no guarantee Microsoft won't change things with RC2 or even tomorrow so that this no longer works.If you want you can also download and run the batch file
here
It does involve editing the registry, but it's not that difficult.Here's all you need to do. You need to create the following
key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\WindowsUpdate\XPSP3
Then create the string value RCPreview below that key, and give it the
value:1c667073-b87f-4f52-a479-98c85711d869
If you had previously had a version of SP3 earlier, you might already have the registry key; just make sure only the string value RCPreview exists in the key when you're done.
Once the key is in your registry, if you go to Windows Update, you'll see you can download SP3 RC1, as above. I've tried it (obviously, since that's my screenshot) and it works.Of course, your mileage may vary, and changes to your registry should be made with care.
Naturally I recommend you back up your registry before trying this, and there's also no guarantee Microsoft won't change things with RC2 or even tomorrow so that this no longer works.If you want you can also download and run the batch file
here
The Tech Report posted an article on 7/13/2006 on how to create PDF files without Acrobat. It's detailed, but I have to wonder why they make you jump through so many hoops, when you can simply download free software at PDF995.com which will do everything The Tech Report wants you to do, but without all the manual labor. Interestingly, The Tech Report wants you to use GhostScript, and a partial version of that is used in PDF995's software. What's the drawback of PDF995's software? You are "subjected" to an ad in your web browser each time you run the programs. That's little to "pay" for such a useful suite, though.
My friend purchased a cheap Linux PC. Of course, the idea was to reformat and place Windows on it. However, after starting the install, Windows XP reboots ... at this point the message "Disk Boot Error" is displayed. So the install cannot complete.At this point he was lost. I decided to take a look.
I had a feeling there was a Linux boot record that was causing a problem. The reformat wasn't taking care of it.What I did was use the Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows.
You create this using a set of freeware tools and your Windows XP CD. I used this to boot the system, and used MBRWiz (Master Boot Record Wizard) to wipe the Master Boot Record.
Crossing my fingers, I started up the Windows XP install again. It went through the first pass, booting from the CD, then it rebooted. At this point in the install XP has to boot from the HD.
Here's where it was failing previously.And it worked. So the problem was indeed that Linux had mucked with the Master Boot Record. Makes sense, though.So, if you want to convert a cheap Linux PC into a Windows PC, don't forget to clear the MBR. It's not enough to reformat. Remembering this will save you a lot of time and effort.
Viruses, trojans, spyware. All of these fit under the general term of malware, software designed to damage a user's computer. But how to choose a package? There are many antivirus vendors; which one should you use?
Note: most vendors have a subscription model nowadays ... you buy the software and have to renew either the program, or the virus update subscription ... or both, after a year for a fee.
Do You Need a Firewall? Well, Windows XP has a firewall built-in ... it's simple, but it works. I wouldn't think you need to buy a different firewall. Also, if, like many people, you use a router with your broadband connection, you shouldn't need to use a firewall as hackers won't be able to get past the router ... unless you open up a lot of ports, that is.
The Big 2
The safe (?) choices would be the biggest companies ... the ones that most people have heard of. Those would be McAfee VirusScan and Symantec Antivirus. Both of these vendors offer security suites that include spyware detection and firewalls. Since these are considered the big 2, they are the safe choice. And, in fact, both do a good job of securing your system.
Negatives? Symantec Antivirus is notoriously heavy. It uses a lot of resources, and will bog down slower systems. Additionally, Symantec requires activation of its products ... personally, aside from Windows XP, which leaves me little choice, I refuse to buy products that require activation. The initial problems Symantec had with activation shows why.
As far as McAfee goes, I used to use it, and it was very light on resources. But I don't like its use of ActiveX technology. Obviously the use of ActiveX in an antivirus product shouldn't open vulnerabilities, but since ActiveX has such a bad rep ...
One other negative of buying the biggest: many hackers consider getting around Symantec and McAfee to be a challenge ... and, as outlined in this Business Week article, many are successful.
Choosing From the Rest
Just because they're the biggest vendors doesn't mean Symantec and McAfee are your best choices. Quite a few people use other software. How should you make your choice?
One thing I would do is check for a) reviews (not that easy to find), b) test results.
Virus Bulletin awards the VB100% Award to products that a) detect all "In the Wild" viruses during both on-demand and on-access scanning in Virus Bulletin's comparative tests, b) generate no false positives when scanning a set of clean files. You have to register at the site but it's free. Note: they do not test every month, and they usually test only one platform (OS) each time.
ICSA Labs certifies antivirus products. A list of the currently certified products is here.
AV-Test.org also tests antivirus products. One interesting spreadsheet on the site indicates how quickly vendors reacted to the Zotob virus that spread earlier this year. It also indicates which products detected the virus proactively, using heuristics. More on this later.
Now, the failure or success of one product over another in the tests does not necessarily mean a product is good or bad. What does count is if a product succeeds or fails consistently.
Now, heuristics. I like to look for antivirus products that have good heuristics, that is, they don't rely just on virus signatures but also analyze files to determine if the file could possibly be a virus which does not have a signature yet. Of course, this can lead to occasional false positives, but I'd rather have a few (note the emphasis on few) false positives than have a new virus slip by.
There are quite a few second-tier vendors that can be relied on to provide a reliable, effective scanner (I use one of them) ... for me, the final decision was based on effectiveness combined with light use of resources (I am a gamer and, although I could turn off a heavy antivirus program during gaming, I prefer not to).
Spyware
I don't feel it's necessary to have a background spyware scanner running. I'm just careful and make sure I don't opt-in or install anything I don't want. Also, many antivirus products look for spyware by default. I do occasional standalone scans using both Spybot - Search & Destroy and a-squared free edition. Both are free. Both are effective. Usually all I find are some tracking cookies.
Trojans
A Trojan (short for Trojan Horse) differs from a virus in that it cannot replicate itself. Frequently Trojans log your keystrokes or open backdoors to your PC so that the writer can turn your computer into a zombie. I prefer a stand-alone antitrojan program. This limits me, as there aren't that many vendors. You can look at BOClean (which has saved me more than once!), Trojan Hunter, ewido ... and there are a few more. But it's a smaller, tougher biz than antivirus, TDS-3 recently dropped out of the business.
What Have We Learned?
Honestly, if you don't go with the big 2 (and you don't have to) you need to do research at the sites I mentioned, as well as look for reviews. Determine if you can live with a heavier program or if you want a light one. There are even free antivirus programs (such as Avast and AVG) also, with limitations, usually on number of virus definition updates / day. Just be sure you have some protection. The amount of time an unprotected system can be connected to the Internet without infection has dropped to below 20 minutes.
Note: most vendors have a subscription model nowadays ... you buy the software and have to renew either the program, or the virus update subscription ... or both, after a year for a fee.
Do You Need a Firewall? Well, Windows XP has a firewall built-in ... it's simple, but it works. I wouldn't think you need to buy a different firewall. Also, if, like many people, you use a router with your broadband connection, you shouldn't need to use a firewall as hackers won't be able to get past the router ... unless you open up a lot of ports, that is.
The Big 2
The safe (?) choices would be the biggest companies ... the ones that most people have heard of. Those would be McAfee VirusScan and Symantec Antivirus. Both of these vendors offer security suites that include spyware detection and firewalls. Since these are considered the big 2, they are the safe choice. And, in fact, both do a good job of securing your system.
Negatives? Symantec Antivirus is notoriously heavy. It uses a lot of resources, and will bog down slower systems. Additionally, Symantec requires activation of its products ... personally, aside from Windows XP, which leaves me little choice, I refuse to buy products that require activation. The initial problems Symantec had with activation shows why.
As far as McAfee goes, I used to use it, and it was very light on resources. But I don't like its use of ActiveX technology. Obviously the use of ActiveX in an antivirus product shouldn't open vulnerabilities, but since ActiveX has such a bad rep ...
One other negative of buying the biggest: many hackers consider getting around Symantec and McAfee to be a challenge ... and, as outlined in this Business Week article, many are successful.
Choosing From the Rest
Just because they're the biggest vendors doesn't mean Symantec and McAfee are your best choices. Quite a few people use other software. How should you make your choice?
One thing I would do is check for a) reviews (not that easy to find), b) test results.
Virus Bulletin awards the VB100% Award to products that a) detect all "In the Wild" viruses during both on-demand and on-access scanning in Virus Bulletin's comparative tests, b) generate no false positives when scanning a set of clean files. You have to register at the site but it's free. Note: they do not test every month, and they usually test only one platform (OS) each time.
ICSA Labs certifies antivirus products. A list of the currently certified products is here.
AV-Test.org also tests antivirus products. One interesting spreadsheet on the site indicates how quickly vendors reacted to the Zotob virus that spread earlier this year. It also indicates which products detected the virus proactively, using heuristics. More on this later.
Now, the failure or success of one product over another in the tests does not necessarily mean a product is good or bad. What does count is if a product succeeds or fails consistently.
Now, heuristics. I like to look for antivirus products that have good heuristics, that is, they don't rely just on virus signatures but also analyze files to determine if the file could possibly be a virus which does not have a signature yet. Of course, this can lead to occasional false positives, but I'd rather have a few (note the emphasis on few) false positives than have a new virus slip by.
There are quite a few second-tier vendors that can be relied on to provide a reliable, effective scanner (I use one of them) ... for me, the final decision was based on effectiveness combined with light use of resources (I am a gamer and, although I could turn off a heavy antivirus program during gaming, I prefer not to).
Spyware
I don't feel it's necessary to have a background spyware scanner running. I'm just careful and make sure I don't opt-in or install anything I don't want. Also, many antivirus products look for spyware by default. I do occasional standalone scans using both Spybot - Search & Destroy and a-squared free edition. Both are free. Both are effective. Usually all I find are some tracking cookies.
Trojans
A Trojan (short for Trojan Horse) differs from a virus in that it cannot replicate itself. Frequently Trojans log your keystrokes or open backdoors to your PC so that the writer can turn your computer into a zombie. I prefer a stand-alone antitrojan program. This limits me, as there aren't that many vendors. You can look at BOClean (which has saved me more than once!), Trojan Hunter, ewido ... and there are a few more. But it's a smaller, tougher biz than antivirus, TDS-3 recently dropped out of the business.
What Have We Learned?
Honestly, if you don't go with the big 2 (and you don't have to) you need to do research at the sites I mentioned, as well as look for reviews. Determine if you can live with a heavier program or if you want a light one. There are even free antivirus programs (such as Avast and AVG) also, with limitations, usually on number of virus definition updates / day. Just be sure you have some protection. The amount of time an unprotected system can be connected to the Internet without infection has dropped to below 20 minutes.
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Adding an external hard drive the EASY way would be to just buy an external HD and attach it to a USB port (or Firewire, but these days it's mostly USB 2.0).
The hard way ... buy your own enclosure and HD, hook them up and attach it to a USB port.
Doesn't sound THAT hard. But in my case ...
I found a Maxtor 300 GB HD on sale (with rebate) for $89.99. I found a nice looking aluminum external enclosure for about $30. I also received a rebate of 4% from one of my rebate sites (MrRebates or Fatwallet, can't recall which). Or I could have purchased a 250 GB HD for $149 + tax. I'd never tried this before (I'd hooked up new internal drives, though) so I thought it would be easy.
Well, first thing I did after getting the parts was was hook up the drive to the real hardware of the enclosure ... the part that had the USB hardware + the power connection and IDE port ... and I noticed the HD was making a clunking noise when I powered it up. Uh, oh.
Connected it, and as I figured, nothing. HD was bad. Sigh. Returned it (they gave me a credit of $8 for shipping and it cost me $7.80 for shipping and insurance ... whew).
All right, just got the new HD. Hooked it up. No clunking. Put things together. Oops, I screwed everything in but did not put the panel on top (side) of the enclosure. Unscrew things. Let's try it again.
All right, connect it to the PC. It's recognized. Open up Windows Explorer. Hey, where is it?!
I figured I knew what it was, but I wasn't 100%. I opened up the Disk Manager (Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management). I could see the drive, but no drive letter and no partition. Figured it was the partition that was missing that was screwing it up.
Well, I'd never partitioned a HD in XP. I actually had to look it up. I used the DiskPart command line tool ... didn't even know about this. After partitioning it using the a) List Disk, b) Select Disk (2 in this case), Create Primary Partition commands, I could see in Disk Management that the partition was there, but still no drive letter.
Right clicked on it ... and viola, I could NOW select a drive letter.
Now all I have to do is format it ... then comes the fun part ... hooking it up to the Linksys NSLU2 NAS device I have already purchased. I might wait until tomorrow for that one!