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ggdbr01
We all know the standard methods of searching for freeware websites:
just go to your favorite web search tool (Google, Yahoo, Search.com, or
whatever), type in "freeware", and hit "Search". Another good method
is to find the relevant freeware directories at these sites and check
them out. In this connection, the Google directories are particularly
interesting because they sort the sites by "Page Rank", a Google
measure of quality/popularity based on (among other things) the number
and quality of other sites that link to the site in question:
http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Freeware/Directories/
http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Freeware/Collections/
General software, not necessarily free:
http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Directories/
More on ranking by Google "Page Rank":
http://www.google.com/technology/index.html
But these are all relatively standard methods.
Here are two "odd methods" I've used to search for less well-known
freeware sites (as well as less well-known websites on other subjects).
Using these methods, I've found a number of good "off broadway" sites
on all sorts of subjects that, for one reason are another, are not near
the tops of the search-hit lists:
ODD METHOD #1: Include the phrase "personal bookmarks" in your search.
If you go to your favorite search tool and search using this string:
"personal bookmarks" freeware
or this string:
"personal bookmarks" "free software"
You will get a page of hits that includes, among other sites, peoples'
collections of personal bookmarks that they have put on the web. If you
bring up one of these pages, simply do an "Edit > Find in This Page >
freeware" [or "free software", if that was your search] search of the
page to take you directly to the freeware links.
You'll often find lots of other sites in these collection that are
interesting, sometimes peripherally related to your interests,
sometimes quite independent of them.
People tend to include only websites they deem as very useful in their
personal bookmarks collections, so you might turn up some real gems
with this method. "Personal Bookmarks", as you may know, is the
"official" name of your Mozilla or Netscape bookmarks file. (Perhaps
this is true of Firefox?).
Now, I have to think that the vast majority of people who have a
bookmarks file on the Web (as opposed to most people, who merely keep
their bookmarks file on their local computer) know that the search
engines, robots, and spiders can find these files and list them.
Hence, I don't think there's anything particularly voyeuristic about
this technique.
ODD METHOD #2: Do an "image search" for "freeware" or "free software"
Now this may seem strange, since it's a bit hard to "picture" freeware!
But if you go to your favorite image search tool and do a search for
"freeware" or "free software:, (such tools as
http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=
or
http://search.yahoo.com/images )
you will find plenty of pictures! These pictures (sometimes
screenshots or banners) are often associated with more obscure
websites.
The additional step here is work your way back to the main site of
which the site with the picture is a part. Often enough, there will be
a link to the main site. But when there is not, as most of you know,
you just "chop back" the link, forward-slash by forward-slash, which
will usually get to the main site.
I hope these techniques are somewhat useful!
just go to your favorite web search tool (Google, Yahoo, Search.com, or
whatever), type in "freeware", and hit "Search". Another good method
is to find the relevant freeware directories at these sites and check
them out. In this connection, the Google directories are particularly
interesting because they sort the sites by "Page Rank", a Google
measure of quality/popularity based on (among other things) the number
and quality of other sites that link to the site in question:
http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Freeware/Directories/
http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Freeware/Collections/
General software, not necessarily free:
http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Directories/
More on ranking by Google "Page Rank":
http://www.google.com/technology/index.html
But these are all relatively standard methods.
Here are two "odd methods" I've used to search for less well-known
freeware sites (as well as less well-known websites on other subjects).
Using these methods, I've found a number of good "off broadway" sites
on all sorts of subjects that, for one reason are another, are not near
the tops of the search-hit lists:
ODD METHOD #1: Include the phrase "personal bookmarks" in your search.
If you go to your favorite search tool and search using this string:
"personal bookmarks" freeware
or this string:
"personal bookmarks" "free software"
You will get a page of hits that includes, among other sites, peoples'
collections of personal bookmarks that they have put on the web. If you
bring up one of these pages, simply do an "Edit > Find in This Page >
freeware" [or "free software", if that was your search] search of the
page to take you directly to the freeware links.
You'll often find lots of other sites in these collection that are
interesting, sometimes peripherally related to your interests,
sometimes quite independent of them.
People tend to include only websites they deem as very useful in their
personal bookmarks collections, so you might turn up some real gems
with this method. "Personal Bookmarks", as you may know, is the
"official" name of your Mozilla or Netscape bookmarks file. (Perhaps
this is true of Firefox?).
Now, I have to think that the vast majority of people who have a
bookmarks file on the Web (as opposed to most people, who merely keep
their bookmarks file on their local computer) know that the search
engines, robots, and spiders can find these files and list them.
Hence, I don't think there's anything particularly voyeuristic about
this technique.
ODD METHOD #2: Do an "image search" for "freeware" or "free software"
Now this may seem strange, since it's a bit hard to "picture" freeware!
But if you go to your favorite image search tool and do a search for
"freeware" or "free software:, (such tools as
http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=
or
http://search.yahoo.com/images )
you will find plenty of pictures! These pictures (sometimes
screenshots or banners) are often associated with more obscure
websites.
The additional step here is work your way back to the main site of
which the site with the picture is a part. Often enough, there will be
a link to the main site. But when there is not, as most of you know,
you just "chop back" the link, forward-slash by forward-slash, which
will usually get to the main site.
I hope these techniques are somewhat useful!