Volume 1

April 2007

Number 2

An electronic newsletter for those interested in the use of the Internet as a Bible study tool.

Advanced Searching on the Internet

Although most people believe they have a good idea of how to find things on the Internet many don't know about some simple techniques to enhance the power of their searches.  I am by no means an expert on the subject; even some of the tips in this article were new to me.  I wish to start with the choice of search engines.  There are many more search engines out there than you're probably aware of, all you really need to know about are the top three.   From what I have found Google, Yahoo, and MSN are the top three.  If you already have a favorite, you should continue using what you are most comfortable.  If you don't have a favorite, I might suggest becoming familiar with Google.  I don't keep up much with technology news but what I have seen from Google in the last two years leads me to believe they will eventually be the very best at Internet searches by a wide margin.

I will take for granted that most of you know how to do a basic search, and even a phrase search (enclose a phrase in "your search phrase").  Most are not aware however that you can limit your searches to documents of a specific type (i.e. Word, PowerPoint, and HTML).  In addition to this, you can limit your searches to certain sites, documents within a specific date range, documents that contain one word but exclude other words, or limit the search to the title of a document or the contents of the document.  All of these features can be found in Google's advanced search page  one of the nicest things that I have seen this year from Google is the ability to create your own custom search engine.  This is simpler than you might think and well worth your time if you find yourself searching the same sites over and over again.  This feature does require that you create a free Google account which you can do at: http://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount  for those of you who also design web sites, you can add Google's Powerful Analytics (web site statistics) to your web pages.  I have not seen anything which is free of charge that can compare with the amount and level of detail that Google Analytics offers.

New Links Directory

I have just completed installing a PHP script which creates a database for maintaining web site links. The links can be grouped into categories and can be searched. Site users can click on a link at the bottom of the page to add their site to the directory. At this writing there are not many links in the directory, I will be working on that in the coming days. Please feel free to submit any religious links you feel are helpful.  It should be noted that this directory is not connected to the database used in indexing sites.

Domain address added

As of this week, I was able to obtain the address http://SeekYe1st.com to potentially be used in conjunction with our current address.  The address is temporarily devoted to other things, however soon you will probably be able to access the site using either address.

Words Fitly Spoken

File Backup Considerations 

I can't begin to tell you how many times I have received calls for assistance from friends or kinfolk requesting assistance recovering a lost or damaged file.   If you have not already dealt with a problem like this, it's only a matter of time.  Files can be misplaced, accidentally deleted, or infected with a virus, just to name a few problems.  Here is the axiom under which you should operate, if you have invested any time in the file you better be backing up that file.  Here are some things you might want to consider.

First of all, if you have two physical drives in your system there are many programs (SyncBack from 2BrightSparks is a very nice program available free on their web site) that can be used to copy files between the drives or between your computer and an FTP address.  This is the simplest and most cost-effective solution.  Many of these programs can be scheduled to run so that it occurs automatically.  If it is the file you really care about I recommend also backing up the file externally.  If your system is infected with a virus or power surges or lightning strikes can destroy all your hard drives in a split second.  The simplest and least expensive solution would now be a USB flash drive (1GB drives can now be had for $10) or an external hard drive, again using some of the above programs to copy the files from your hard drive to a flash drive.  Depending on the size of the files you are backing up, you might also purchase an external hard drive.  Assuming you have a CD or DVD writable drive in your system, you can also use a backup program (Nero and Roxio both have programs within their product suite to back up anything from a single file or folder to an entire system) to copy files to a blank CD or DVD media.  If you use this method, I do not recommend trying to reuse the media.  Buy either CD-R or DVD-R and only use it once.  With a flash drive or CD/DVD media, you could also store these backups in a safety deposit box or fire safe.  If you are willing to spend a little more, and your most important considerations are convenience and data protection, you might want to consider an online backup service. There are many providers now offering this service. Three such providers of this service are Data Deposit Box , XDrive.com , and Mozy.com.

" Your problem is you judge others by their actions and yourself by your intentions "

- from the movie "Facing the Giants"

Three boys are in the school yard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem. They give him $50." The second boy says, "That's nothing! My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song. They give him $100." The third boy says, "I got you both beat. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a sermon, and it takes eight people to collect all the money!"

Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing a strong preaching on the devil. One said to the other, "What do you think about all this Satan stuff?" The other boy replied, "Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It's probably just your Dad.
 

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