rtobyr's profile at Help.com

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Last 2 Posts Authored

• I think bored kids post bogus problems just to waste our time. posted (1 year, 5 months) ago
  Take a look at this: http://help.com/post/69664-ifeel-like-there-is-information-tha Seriously, how…

• I want to help people on Help.com with their computer problems, but they keep posting vague problems without any details. posted (1 year, 5 months) ago
  For example, one katrina_199 writes: “i need to play the game because it saids erorr the sto…

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Last 5 Replies – All 47 replies »

• How do I use google?
  

  I was searching for information about the California Fire Code the other day, and I realized what a pain Internet research must be for folks that don’t know the subtle ways that search results can be narrowed. Here’s a quick and dirty tutorial:
  
  BASIC SEARCH
  
  Searching Google for california fire code returns all pages with the words california or fire or code in them, but all three words are not necessary for a page to be returned. I got 19,000,000 results with this search.
  
  PLUSES
  
  Adding pluses to a word means that word must appear in the page. Searching for +california +fire +code returns all pages with the words california and fire and code in them, but not necessarily in any particular order. I got 4,480,000 results from this search.
  
  QUOTES
  
  Using quotes helps to search for phrases. Searching for “california fire code” returns all pages with that exact phrase in the page. I got 40,700 results with this search.
  
  MINUSES
  
  Search engines will typically not return pages that contain a word that you’ve prefixed with a minus. Searching for “california fire code” -marshal returns all pages with the phrase, “california fire code,” but excludes any page with the word “marshal” in it. This search gave me 27,800 results.
  
  COMBINATIONS
  
  You can use these techniques in combination. The search +”california fire code” -marshal -”uniform fire code” +”extension cords” returns all pages with “california fire code” and “extension cords,” but excludes any page with “marshal” or “uniform fire code.” This search yields 37 pages, which I’m sure you will agree is much more manageable than my original 19,000,000.
  
  CASE SENSITIVITY
  
  You will notice that I didn’t capitalize any of my search results. This is because search engines are typically case insensitive. In other words, they don’t distinguish between capital and lower case letters. Other search engines are partially case sensitive: if you use lower case letters, then the search engine will return similar results regardless of capitalization; however, if you use capitalization, then the search engine will only give you results that use the same capitalization that you used. For example, searching for california will return “california” and “California.” Searching for California will only return “California.”
  - written 1 year, 4 months ago

• when I try to get on to kodak easy share from picaca
  

  Get off of AOL.
  - written 1 year, 4 months ago

• how do i disable a site from being viewed through the HOST or something of that sort.
  

  With Windows Vista, you have Parental Controls. Here’s an article about it:
  
  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/parentalcontrols.mspx
  
  It looks like you access the Parental Controls via the Control Panel.
  - written 1 year, 4 months ago

• my computer displayed ” disk read error” while booting.
  

  Use the Windows install CD. If you have Windows XP, it will let you attempt to repair Windows, but it is likely that your disk is trashed. You may need to have the Geek Squad replace your hard drive.
  - written 1 year, 4 months ago

• I am trying to install a webcam, which I think I did properly.
  

  You need a program to run it. Yahoo Instant Messenger does this well.
  - written 1 year, 4 months ago

rtobyr's conversations are tagged:

computer, Microsoft Windows, mail, screen, e-mail, password, Read, File, question, Turn, change, Uploading and downloading, Error, guy, word, friends, Problem, set, aol, top, play, Hard disk, Year, work, free