WHEN YOU USE search engines like Yahoo or Lycos on the Internet, you can be overwhelmed with irrelevant information.
Here is a tip - use the '+' and '-' symbols to narrow down the information the search engines bring back.
The + symbol ensures the search engines find pages that have all the words that you enter, not just some of them.
For example, if you want to find pages that have references to both Microsoft and Xbox, the video game console released by Microsoft, on the same page, then type this: + Microsoft + Xbox. The search engine will display pages containing both Microsoft and Xbox.
Here is an example of how the use of + improves the search. When searching for Xbox using Altavista, a popular search engine, 709,161 pages are displayed. However, with the use of the + symbol, the number of pages is reduced to 66,654.
Sometimes, you may want to use a search engine to find pages that have one word on them but not another word. This is when you should use the - symbol. For example, if you want to look for information about Microsoft but do not want to be overwhelmed by pages relating to Xbox, you could type this: Microsoft - Xbox.
