Using a Search Engine!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lostman]

Over my past month as being a member here and trying my best to help out my fellow man (and the occasional women) I've noticed many issues that could have been solved with a few min of good old web searching.

I don't know how many of you guys use Yahoo! or Google, but to me they have every answer to every question that I can ask. It's all in how you phrase it.

Example:

You have an old computer and can't find the driver for the onboard modem. You know it's a name brand (lets say "HP") and the model is xyz. You go to Yahoo! or Google and type

HP xyz modem
I can promise you that you will find something on the first page or results. The problem I see with people using search engines is they don't use keywords or they are not specific enough.

If I was to put "HP Modem" I would get 10k results and it would take me forever to find what I was looking for. But by putting in the model # I narrow it down greatly.

Now that was an easy one. How about something not so specific. I needed to find out how to configure my A7N8X-Deluxe mobo to run sound in Linux. So I went to Yahoo! and typed
A7N8X Deluxe Linux Sound
that gave me the desired results. Then all it took was to read some of the links it gave me to find my answer.


I hope this helps some of you with finding a quicker answer to your questions.

 

[Lostman]

That is true. Which is why I posted that. I think it is our duty as Techies to better educate the general population on how to get around. Teach them how to help themselves.

 

[*PyRo*]

Nah thats a good idea you could even market it and make billions mwahahaha

 

[ADZ]

i think ppl are just lazy and want quick results...

 

[Jack Flash]

Indeed.

 

[mindfreak]

I like your idea there lostman. Maybe you can point me in the right direction. What are the best search terms to use when trying to figure out how to erase windows off of a computer so you can install linux on clean drive.

 

[Lostman]

Not knowing what Tech Termonalogy you know, I would start with "Erase windows on hard drive" and see what that gets you.

But, so you know, if using Red Hat or Mandrake you don't need to. You can do it all from the install.