BleepingComputer.com: Prob A Stupid Question

yea prob a silly question but i just cant figure out how to search for things on this site using this sites search bar.
say i want to search for " i cant install AVG" it wont except it because it says all words must b 4 character or more
so how would i search for "whats the difference between TCP and UDP" or if i want to c all the peeps talking about SP3 i cant just search "win XP SP3"

in fact most computer words are acronyms of 4 or more usually 3 letters, u might say then use the full and proper name but most posts from most peeps dont use the full names of things so the search would miss 90%.

what am i doing wrong or missing, any help would b great.

This post has been edited by JackDinn: 09 June 2008 - 07:19 AM

Well It depends how you phrase your search Jack.

Ive just done a google search for "i cant install AVG" and I get 8 sites but at the top is says did you mean "i cannot install AVG" and it returns 195 sites. The same goes for "whats the difference between TCP and UDP" that returns 9 but with did you mean "what's the difference between TCP and UDP" returns 41. If you remove the quotes you get 125,000 but these include any words you have chosen but you will still get valid results.


Search engines have been out for years and there are general rules that you can apply. If you know the exact phrase then put the phrase in quotes which you've done. If you want to exclude certain words in your example use "i cannot install AVG" -virus if you want to include certain words then use "i cannot install AVG" +virus

These rules apply to all search engines that I've used.

If you have a problem with AVG then they have their own forum

This post has been edited by Keithuk: 09 June 2008 - 06:59 AM

yea sorry i dident make myself clear, i dont mean google i mean just this sites search , if i want to search this site in this sites search bar.

im quite happy with normal search engines and using wildcards and boolean logic etc

its just when im looking for things on this and sometimes other forums using there own search bars

This post has been edited by JackDinn: 09 June 2008 - 07:15 AM

The search function for the forums is a known albatross, that really can't be fixed. It's in the software. Try using just keywords. If the keyword is 3 or 4 letters, try adding an * or ** to the offending word

well tried that but no go, even if i put **avg, avg** ,*avg* and **avg** tried with the wildcard "?" as well, it still thinks thats a 3 letter word, and yes thats my point exactly 50% of the time keywords are 3 letters, i dont understand how everyone else gets by like this, i mean you should always do a proper search before posting anything but i dont c how u can??