Internet Tips and Tricks: Using google for more than searching for your favorite celebrity

Modern day Google is more than just a typical search engine. There are tons of tools and utilities that Google offers to try and become a "one-stop-shop" for denizens of the internet. In fact, you can use it to manipulate, narrow down, or refine your search results from a view million results to just the right result with a few keywords.

Also, if you look hard enough, and you input the right keywords, you can turn Google into your own personal tool for finding your way into some systems that you shouldn't be in. But, alas, I am not going to go into that much depth to teach you that. So here are some keywords and phrases I tend to use (almost on a daily basis) to make life that much easier and to minimize the amount of web pages I have to go to so I can find the information I want.

All of the following keywords can be entered into the normal search box on Google.com just like any other inquiry.

Use Google as a dictionary
The first keyword I use is the "define:x" keyword. Define does just what you think it does, it defines the word following the semi-colon. So here's a screen shot of me using the keyword and what it returns.

Use Google to view old copies of webpages
This keyword lets you view what are called cached (saved) copies of just about any website the Google spider bots have crawled across at just about any point in time. The keyword is used as follows "cache:www.example.com".  So for example you can do "cache:www.slashdot.org" and it will return old versions of that website that you can browse through. Of course you won't be able to do much on that site besides look at it, but it is a means to find out exactly what was going down that day if you ever were curious.

Using Google to find EXACTLY what you want
The last keyword I'm going to throw at my readers is not actually a keyword at all. It's more or less punctuation you can use to refine your search. It is simple the double quotes ( " ) around whatever you would like to search. This will return results that have EXACTLY (and I mean that) what you typed, how you typed it, and in precisely the same order as you typed it. So if I searched for something like...

"I love my fedora"

Google would return this...

And with that last keyword I'm going to leave an info picture (infographic) that has MANY more keywords and tricks for you to use, if you so choose.

(As always, click on my pictures to see the full sized images)

Internet Basics: Antivirus Software

I'm sure all of you have hard this before: ANTIVIRUS IS A MUST HAVE FOR ANY PERSONAL COMPUTER IN TODAY'S WORLD. But before I tell you why to have an antivirus installed on your computer, let me explain what a "virus" is, more or less. A true computer virus is much like any sort of virus in the real world. It has the ability to copy and distribute itself across a computer's file system to cause irreparable harm to the entire system itself. The term "virus" is used synonymously with basically any form of malware on today's market. Examples are trojans, worms, true viruses, or spyware.

Antiviruses today are a dime-a-dozen. Every where you turn, there's antiviruses everywhere! There's a basic one that comes with Windows OS, there's other that you can buy at the store, and there are even a couple 100% free ones floating around the internet. Having one is easy, you don't need to have a $100-a-year antivirus to "stay protected". Simply having a free antivirus like AVG is 8/10 times enough to stay secure. Also having an expensive one like "Norton Internet Security Essentials" is probably about 9/10 times enough to stay secure. The simple fact-of-the matter is having some sort of Antivirus.

Oh, and yes, Apple Mac OS have viruses now. Don't be one of THOSE people who think they're 100% secure because they have a Mac.

Internet Safety Tools: Spybot S&D & anti-malware

Today's topic shall be on a little tool I like to use call "Spybot Search and Destroy (SS&D). SS&D belongs to the anti-malware/spyware family of safety tools. Have you ever had an annoying pop-up keep happening on your computer without you being connected to the internet? Have you suddenly noticed that your computer is loading INCREDIBLY slower from the time you hit the power button until the time you can actually start working? Does it take more than 5 seconds for your e-mail to load? That last one is more or less a joke at the stupid TV commercials to SPEED UP YOUR COMPUTER TO LUDICROUS SPEEDS (oh, how I loathe them).

Malware/spyware can do a range of bad things to your computer/information, so lets just put it this way: YOU DON'T WANT ANY. Here is the wikipedia link if you would like more info on what it can do.

If you've noticed any of these things happening or just generous slowness of your computer, malware/spyware can be at fault. How do you get these nasty things on your computer? Anything from downloading a virus, clicking on a link, or even sometimes going to the wrong page and letting an ad load (they can have secret trojans hidden in their code). Installing anti-malware and running it on your system can help speed up your system, and make securing your personal information that much easier.

Here is the Spybot Search & Destroy download page.

(Old) Internet News: The Sony Hacks

Now it is time for me to talk briefly about an eyeopening event that occurred quite a bit ago on a major corporation. The event that occurred were the "Playstation Network (PSN) hacks". If any of my readers happens to have a PS3 then they might have noticed that the PSN was down for the better half of a month a while back. What happened though? What did the hackers take? Why the hell are you telling me this? All of these are good questions, which I will do my best to answer.

What happened is that the PSN was attacked and brought down by a group of internet hackers who followed in the wake of the group Anonymous. Anonymous is an internet based group of people who try and fight the "oppressive corporations" and "evils of societies" in today's world. In reality, they usually DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service attack) businesses and government websites they deem worthy of at the time. There are legitimate hackers among the group, so they should never be taken lightly. Anyway, I digress, When Anonymous DDOSed and brought down the PSN, the rogue group of hackers found their way into the PSN's internal network and started to mess around. They did this by tricking the system into thinking they were Playstation developers with a couple cracked CD's.

The hackers took any sort of personal information they could get their hands on, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and yes, it is possible they even took credit cards. Sound bad? Well it is. I HIGHLY doubt you would run up to some random person on the street and start blurting out all of your identifying information.

I'm telling you all this to hopefully get in your head that NOBODY IS 100% SAFE ON THE INTERNET. If a good enough hacker (like those hired by foreign governments, yes, those types of hackers do exist) wants into your system, they will get in if it's connected to the internet. The millions of people who trusted Sony Entertainment with their valuable credit card/personal information were let down. This breach in security has cost Sony hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit protection services, hiring better coders to try and ensure something like this doesn't happen again, and potential client loss (myself included).

So please, be safe, be educated, and (try to) be secured!

The following imagine is the "Operation" mission statement that the group Anonymous had for the Sony attack.

Internet Basics: What is a firewall and why should I have one?

By definition a firewall is device or function that permits or denies network access to a device. This can be in 2 forms: hardware or software. Hardware would be a device in your home that is outside your computer and generally hooked to the network in some way, shape, or form. This device could be a stand-alone firewall box most commonly found in business offices, or built into your internet companies router. Software, on the other hand, is something you download or install on a personal computer. This can be in the form of the all-too-common "Microsoft Windows Firewall", Norton Antivirus Firewall, or any stand-alone piece of software.

The importance of a firewall is pretty big. Without a good one "guarding your network", anybody with minor computer knowledge can easily gain access to all your personal files on any computer connected to your network. Most of the time this doesn't involve them doing some voodoo magic with your mouse/programs/operating system to make it seem like they've come alive, no. This usually involves them leaving back doors on your systems to easily find their way back in, if need be. The attacker can also steal sensitive information stored in your internet browser, like saved passwords, names, addresses, etc etc.

This is an image of where a firewall should be located, in some way, in your network to provide the most protection.

All of the routers from internet service providers (like At&t's, shown below) have built in firewalls! So you're most likely secured against basic intrusion attacks right from the get-go.