Search IT – The best ways to search the internet and how to get free stuff online.

1. Search IT – The best ways to search the internet and how to get free stuff online.

2. What is a Search Engine? • A search engine works like the Yellow Pages. You tell it what you are looking for and it looks up the information in its index and gives you the closest matches it has on file. • There are many different search engines the most popular ones are listed below. • GOOGLE – www.google.ie • Yahoo – www.yahoo.ie • Bing (Microsoft) – www.bing.ie • Ask – www.ask.ie

3. Before you search... • When searching the internet there is a possibility you may stumble across unsuitable or potentially harmful websites. Make sure you are running an up to date antivirus program. • There are several good free antivirus programs available on the internet. • AVG – www.free.avg.com • Avira - www.free-av.com • Would be among the best.

4. Keep your Computer healthy... • Make sure you are downloading and installing available updates from Microsoft. This will limit the possibilities for your computer being infected. • Visit – www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com to make sure your computer is up to date. Site advisor – A free download from McAffee will check sites before you visit them to check they are safe. http://www.siteadvisor.com

5. Google.ie – Not the only search engine but the most popular.. • Google.ie is the most common starting place when looking for something on the internet. • Once people experiment a bit they tend to find the search engine they like the best. • The Google.ie site will favour results from Ireland before looking elsewhere on the internet.

6. Google – Search hints • Phrase Search - “ “ putting quotes around your search term will look for exact matches only. • e.g. – “Ronan Murphy” will not hit on Ronan or Murphy only the full name. • Site search – site: putting site: in front of the search will limit your search to only that website for the search phrase. e.g. - site: www.rte.ie football

7. Narrowdown the Millions of results • The Internet is huge. So when searching be as specific as possible. Look at the example below.

8. Find the Programs you need for Free! • Most people need to use their computer for common tasks like the ones listed below. While you can purchase commercial software to carry these jobs out. There is a fantastic range of free software and services available on the internet to do almost as much and sometimes even more than the software that costs hundreds or Euro, • Email • Word Processing • Editing Photos • Anti Virus

9. Email – Online free options • If you need to setup an email address you can pay to do this but most of the free online services are just as good. • Gmail – Google's online email program is fast becoming one of the most popular choices as it gives loads of online space for your email and also offers calendar and document sharing options. – www.gmail.com • Hotmail – Microsoft’s entry in the free mail services. Again very popular with those who use some of the other online programs from Microsoft like MSN messenger. www.hotmail.com • Yahoo mail – The other big player in internet search and online email. Www.Mail.yahoo.ie

10. Hotmail V Gmail Both similar but Gmail has less advertising

11. Free Office Products • If you were to purchase the basic Microsoft Office you would end up paying approx €120 for the basic package, up to €699 for the whole suite, or you could download Open Office. • A free open source package that has almost every function that office does. Over 50 Million people world wide are now using the program and its becoming more popular all the time. • Open office can open and save files in the standard Microsoft format so you can still work with others using the Commercial programs. • www.openoffice.org to Download.

12. Looks and functions just like Microsoft Office but its free! Word Processor Spread Sheet

13. Photo Editing –Offline or Online. • There are many sites where you can store your photographs online • Flickr – www.flickr.com • Pixie – www.pix.ie • Photobucket – www.photobucket.com • The 2 main players for online storage and editing are. • Adobe Photoshop online. – www.photoshop.com • Google Picasa – Offline software – www.picasa.google.com • Online storage – www.picasaweb.google.com • Online ? Offline? - Online needs a broadband connection Offline is installed on your computer and works without the internet having to be on all the time.

14. Photoshop online has lots of advanced features for the more experienced user

15. Picasa is downloaded and can run on your computer offline and is easy and quick to use.

16. Shareware, Trial Versions and Freeware or open source • Shareware is the name given to software that is put out on the internet and the person who writes it hopes that you will pay for the software but they don't make you by not turning off features after a period of time. • Trial versions normally have a time limit ranging from a few days to a few months. When the trial period expires then you have to purchase the software to continue using it. It will lock itself or disable the ability to save until you do so. • Freeware or Open source software is totally free you are never required to pay for it some companies release freeware versions of their products hoping you will like them and purchase the full version with more features.

17. Now you know the basics . Go explore! • Handy sites to start you off. • K9 web protection www.k9webprotection.com • It restricts visits to unwanted sites and the times that kids or adults, can be on the internet and stop them looking at unsuitable content. • Google Earth. Cool way to find places around the world. Includes photos videos and panoramic views – www.earth.google.com • Fun Sites to visit. The name says it all, a collection of family friendly sites organised into categories - www.funsites.com • Limerick – www.Limerickcity.ie links all about Limerick city and county.