Welcome to our third issue of the year!

This issue features only one major topic but one which may prove very valuable to most of our readers. The topic heading says it all.... Work Smarter, not Harder. The entire issue will cover the subject of searching the Net for that elusive nugget of information you have been looking for.

The odds are that whatever you wish to find on the Internet is available somewhere out there. As you probably have found out by now, it is not always that easy to find what you want or worse still, to even know how to find it. The first step you must take is to define the problem! I know this is very basic but how often do we fire up that search engine and start entering queries before first having asked ourselves "What type of information am I looking for?", because that will determine which program we use.

Do we want something that's published on the WWW or some information appearing in 'special interest groups' as found on the Usenet? Are we looking for something simple like the location of a certain shareware program or something more complex like a quotation from an e-mail message sent months ago? Using the right 'search engine' it is possible to find almost anything you want. Let me illustrate with a case in point.

As you will discover when you try out the search engines provided in this issue, they are pretty powerful. How powerful you ask? Try this for size.... One year ago, I e-mailed several requests to sites in Japan requesting information about casualty lists following the earthquake in Kobe. Dozens of messages flew back and forth over a period of two weeks. Last week, while 'testing' some of the search engines listed in the table below, I searched for particular strings of words which were contained in certain messages. After blindly trying a dozen or so programs without a 'hit' I paused and 'defined the problem' Having read the information on each engine as to their capabilities etc, I tried a selected few. On the second try, I hit paydirt! I actually retrieved info on the actual e-mail message I had sent. Now, when one realizes how many million pieces of e-mail are sent every day, it is rather astounding!

By pressing on the following 'bar', you will get a glimpse of our new way of presenting the information. Beginning with this issue, all future newsletters will take that format. I hope you like it. As requested in the text portion of the e-mail message, I would much appreciate to hear your views on our new format. Any and all constructive criticism will gladly be accepted.

If you have enjoyed this 'Quality time moment', why not drop me a line. I am always in search of new ideas so, if you have a special topic you would like to see covered at length, let me know.

Send comments or suggestions,