Need2Find Help

How do I search on Need2Find?
Searching with My Search is easy. Just type your keywords into the search field at the top of most pages, then either click on the "Search" button, or on one of the search provider buttons located just below the search field. Need2Find lets you choose a primary search provider from 4 of the Internet's leading search engines: Google, Yahoo Search, Ask Jeeves and LookSmart. To change your primary search provider at any time, click the "Change Default search provider" link on the main Need2Find page.

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How many Web sites are in the search engine?
There are over 2 billion Web sites indexed for the Need2Find search engine, which is powered by Google, Yahoo Search, Ask Jeeves and LookSmart.

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How do I report a problem or a bug?
If you encounter an error searching on Need2Find, please Contact Need2Find to report the problem. Please let us know what you were searching for, the date and time you searched, and what problem you encountered.

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Is the Need2Find Bar spyware?
NO! The Need2Find Bar does not collect any personal information and is completely "spyware"-free and "adware"-free. Period.

The Need2Find Bar was specifically designed to provide a great user experience free of spyware, adware, direct marketing, data collection or other similar activities. In order to achieve that goal:

The toolbar software DOES NOT collect personal information of any kind, period. No email address, registration or other information is required to use the product. No zip code, no email, no member name, no password. Unlike many other products, we do not even attempt to collect data upon startup as a requirement of use.
The toolbar software DOES NOT monitor the websites visited by the end user, collect or in any manner report any information about what sites an end users visits (or any clickstream activity), nor does it monitor or scrape information when you are on other sites.

The toolbar software DOES NOT serve or facilitate so-called "contextual advertising" or pop-up ads. Many applications are identified as spyware because they monitor end-user Internet usage and serve contextual pop-ups. The Need2Find Bar does not engage in any such practices.

In short, the Need2Find Bar provides a superior search experience on an ANONYMOUS basis and without any additional monitoring, contextual ads or other nuisances.

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search functionality questions

Who provides the various search results?
Google, Ask Jeeves, Yahoo! and LookSmart all provide results for the Need2Find search engine. You can search for and find content in various languages, access news headlines, image files, and video records.

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Are there Advanced Search capabilities?
At this point, we are not offering Advanced Search capabilities for any search provider. We will soon be adding this functionality and it will cross-navigate the various providers' results.

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What if I want to submit a site, how do I do this?
To submit a site to one of more of our search providers, please click on a link below and follow the simple instructions.
Google
Yahoo!
Ask Jeeves
LookSmart

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Is there filtering available for any of the search results provided?
At this point, we do not filter the various Web, image, video or audio results from any of our search providers. However, we are working to build this functionality on Need2Find in the near term, so check back for updates!

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Google search results

How are the Google search results chosen?
Google provides results for the Google search results pages. Google allows you to search for and find content in various languages; access stock quotes, maps, and news headlines; get phone book listings for every city in the United States; retrieve information from more than 35 million non-HTML documents and more.

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How many pages are searched through Google?
Over 2 billion Web sites are indexed for the Google search results pages.

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What types of searches are there for Google?
By clicking on the Google tab on the search page or the search results page, you can search for Web sites or Images, as well as the open directory categories.

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Can I try my search term in other search types from Google on Need2Find?
By default, Need2Find searches several types of Web media through Google. You can also search other search types from Google such as: Web pages, Images, and Directory categories.
For example:

You can navigate through these sections by using the search-tab links below the search box. The name of the section you are currently searching will display on a dark-grey tab. You can easily run your search in other sections by clicking the respective search-tab.

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How do I search for Images?

From the main Google Search Results page,

Click the search tab labeled "Images".
Type your query into the search field.
Click the "Search" button.

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How does the Images Results page work?
After you've run your query, Need2Find will display Google results in a grid of 15 thumbnails (small image files) that match your query, sorted by relevancy. Need2Find indicates the Filename, Image dimensions (Length x Width) and links to the site of each image.
For example:

Thumbnail: Click the thumbnail image to go to that image's location on the Web.
Filename: In the example above, "madonna". Clicking the image will take you to the information page for that image. There you will see additional information about that image, including links to the page the image was found on, as well as a larger image if it is available.
Image dimensions: Displayed in pixels and in "Length x Width" format.
Tip: Images with larger file sizes will print better, but take longer to download.

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How do the Directory Results work?
By clicking on the tab for "Directory Results", you can search for Web sites within the open directory.

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How do I search the Directory Categories?
By clicking on the Directory Category tab for search results, you can search the open-directory categories. You can drill-down into these categories to find pertinent Web sites to view.

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Yahoo! search results

How do I interpret the basic Web results?
Each result is listed with the title of the page, a text excerpt that describes the page, and the URL of the page. By clicking on the title, your browser will be re-directed to the web site. On Need2Find, the Yahoo! results will only list one page from each site.

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Can I try my search term in other search types from Yahoo! on Need2Find?

By default, Need2Find searches several types of web media through Yahoo. You can also search other search types from Yahoo! such as: Web pages, News, Images, Videos and MP3s files.

For example:

You can navigate through these sections by using the search-tab links below the search box. The name of the section you are currently searching will display on a dark-grey tab. You can easily run your search in other sections by clicking the respective search-tab.

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How do I search for MP3s?
From the Yahoo! main search results page on Need2Find, click the search tab labeled "MP3s". In the search box, type in your query. Then click the "Search" button.

Tip: To get the best results, you should type the name of the artist/band, or the song title - not both.

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How does the MP3 results page work?
After you've run your query, Need2Find will return a list of Yahoo! MP3 files that match your query sorted by the reliability of the source. Need2Find indicates the "Title", "Size", and "Date" of each search result.

For example:

To download a file, click the file icon, or the title of the track.
Title: This is the filename of the MP3. Clicking the title will download the MP3 file.
Date: This indicates the date that the file was last modified.

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Why do I get different results when I use the same query at a later time?
Need2Find queries Yahoo! which randomly generates different result sets, to prevent overload of any particular server on their end.

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How do I search for Images?
From the Yahoo! main search results page on Need2Find, click the search link labeled "Images." In the search box, type in your query. Then click the "Search" button.
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How does the Image Results page work?
After you've run your query, Need2Find will display Yahoo! results in a grid of 15 thumbnails (small image files) that match your query sorted by relevancy. Need2Find indicates the Filename, Image dimensions (Length x Width) and links to the site of each image.
For example:

Thumbnail: Click the thumbnail image to go to that image's location on the Web.
Filename: In the example above, "madonna". Clicking the image filename will take you to that image's location on the Web.
Image dimensions: Displayed in pixels and in "Length x Width" format.
More info: Click this link to go to that image's location on the Web.
Tip: Images with larger file sizes will print better, but take longer to download.

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What is News search?
For the News search results under the "Yahoo!" tab on Need2Find, Yahoo! reaches out to over 7,000 news sources in 35 languages and offers continuously updated articles from Yahoo! News combined with crawled news sources around the Web.

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How do I search for Videos?
From the Yahoo! main search results page on Need2Find, click the search link labeled "Videos". In the search box, type one or more keywords that relate to the Video you are looking for. Then click the "Search" button or press Enter.

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How do I use the Video results page?
After you've run your query, Need2Find will display Yahoo! results sorted by relevancy. Need2Find indicates the Video Title, Format and links to the site of each video clip.
For example:

Video Title: Click the title of a Video to download it to your computer, or to play the stream.
Format: e.g. AVI, Quicktime, and MPEG. Note that you may need different players to view the different formats.

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Ask Jeeves search results

How are the Ask Jeeves Search results chosen?
Ask Jeeves delivers its primary search results using Teoma Search technology. Teoma Search technology uses sophisticated algorithms and Subject-Specific Popularity(sm) data to generate the most relevant and authoritative results on the Web. In some instances, companies pay to have their Web sites included within Teoma's dataset, otherwise known as the Teoma Index. Like all Web sites, these sites are processed through Teoma's search algorithms and are not guaranteed placement in the results. This ensures that relevancy is the primary driver of results.

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How do I use the Web results?
Web results are listed in order of relevance. Each result links to a Web page which has information about the keyword(s) you entered. Simply click on the link to access the Web page.

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LookSmart search results

What are LookSmart "Reviewed Web Results"?
Reviewed Web Results are listings that have been evaluated by LookSmart editors. The Reviewed Web Results section of search results includes Web sites selected by LookSmart's professional editorial team, editorially-reviewed paid listings from LookSmart's advertising partners, and non-commercial sites contributed by Zeal community members. All listings are held to the same quality standards, whether they are commercial or noncommercial.

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Image Searches

How do I save Pictures to my computer?
To save an image, right-click on the image (Macintosh: click and hold) and select "Save image as". Select a folder to save the image to, and click "Save".
Note: Materials are protected by the copyright and trademark laws of the United States and other countries. Therefore, you may need authorization of the owner before you can use any of the referenced materials. You can browse through the search results by clicking the "Next" or "Previous" links for the next or previous pages of thumbnails to view.

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What is the resolution of an image?
The resolution of an image refers to its pixel density; that is, the number of dots per inch that make up the image. Higher resolution pictures print better than low-resolution pictures, but have larger file sizes and thus take longer to download. The sharpness of the image on a display depends on the resolution and the size of the monitor. The same pixel resolution will be sharper on a smaller monitor and will gradually lose sharpness on larger monitors because the same number of pixels are being spread out over a larger number of inches.

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What is MIME type?
Servers insert a MIME header at the beginning of any Web transmission. Your browser uses this header to select an appropriate "player" application for the type of data the header indicates. Some of these players are built into the Web client or browser (for example, all browsers come with GIF and JPEG image players as well as the ability to handle HTML files); other players may need to be downloaded.

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MP3 & Audio Searches

What is MP3?
MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3) is a standard for compressing a sound sequence into a very small file (about one-twelfth the size of the original file) while preserving the original level of sound quality when it is played. Winamp (PC), MacAmp (Mac), and mpg123 (UNIX) are popular MP3 players, but there are many others.

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How long does it take to download?
Download times vary with the speed of your Internet connection. On a 28.8K modem, it can take 20 or 30 minutes to download a three-minute song, while a high-speed connection such as ISDN, DSL, cable, or a T1 line, can download the same song in under a minute.

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Why am I having trouble downloading songs?
Most servers have a limit on the number of users that can connect at any one time. The only solution to this problem is to try again at a later time. Need2Find in conjunction with Yahoo!, provides a reliability score for each of the MP3 files. This gives you an indication of the reliability of the connection to the computer where the file is stored.

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Video Searches

How long does it take to download Video files?
The length of time it takes to download a video depends upon your connection speed. Using a dial-up connection (28.8 to 56Kbps) to download a 30-second, 3MB MPEG could take 10 to 15 minutes to download. Cable modems and DSL connections have substantially shorter download times.

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What is streaming media?
Streaming media is audio or video sent in compressed form over the Internet and displayed by the viewer as they arrive. With streaming media, a Web user does not have to wait to download a large file before seeing the Video or hearing the sound. The user needs a player, which is a special program that decompresses and sends Video data to the display and Audio data to speakers. Streaming Media plugins are available for most browsers.
Real Network's RealSystem format, Microsoft's Media Player format and Apple's QuickTime all support streaming media. These work better with high-speed connections and in low-traffic hours.

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