Although Google is not a legal-specific search engine, lawyers and law firm staff use it constantly to find information on clients, opposing parties, opposing counsel, judges, news reports on issues that may impact their cases, etc. But most of us don't use Google efficiently. Simply typing in a search term and wading through the dozens (or hundreds) of results is only part of the power of Google. Try these tips from Peter Grad of the Knight Ridder Tribune News Service (as reported in the Bradenton (FL) Herald on 12/15/05) the next time you use Google to search for client or case-related information. We especially like the ability to search for old archived or "cached" Web pages (tip #4 below) that have since been deleted or modified. Sometimes a Web page owner will eliminate a page or change its content to delete the language or information that may support your client's claim or defense.

1. Find similar terms And you thought the tilde character (~) served no useful purpose. When you insert the tilde in front of a search term, Google will retrieve sources matching the word as well as synonyms. Searching "~conservative" will yield the National Libertarian Party, the National Republican Committee and the Right Wing News home page. Do not leave a space between the tilde and the search term.

2. Exclude terms Sometimes a keyword will come up with items totally unrelated to the subject you are interested in. A student researching plasma in the cosmos would type in the word plasma and be forced to wade through scores of sites referring to plasma televisions. The fastest way to solve this is to use the exclude function, the hyphen. Search "plasma -tv" and you will eliminate many irrelevant sites. Though better, that may still not be good enough - you'll wind up with sites using the word "television." Simply refine your search this way: "plasma -tv -television" and eliminate both terms from your results. (No need to use the word "and" or other punctuation.) If you really want to be cool, combine your newfound skills and type "plasma -«tv" that will exclude all synonyms of TV.

3. Substitute for unknown words Friends kid me that my memory is pretty bad; I think they exaggerate. But sometimes I need to look up a quotation for which I can't recall all the words. No problem. Use asterisks to stand in for missing words. So if you forget, oh, let's say, the number of years that Whatsisname referred to in his famous address: Something score and something years ago ... just type "Four * and * years ago."

4. Find lost pages A wonderful but mostly overlooked feature of Google search is the cache option. Most people glance right past it, but in virtually all search results, you will see a link to cached versions of pages you are looking for. You usually won't need to refer to these archival pages, but if your search ever turns up an old news page, for instance, you may find that when you click on the link, the page no longer exists, even though it turned up in the search results. In that event, simply click on the cache link (at the bottom line of the search result), and that will retrieve the last saved version of the page that had failed to show.

5. Get your number Looking up a phone number? Give your fingers a break, and let Google do the walking. Just type "phonebook" and the name and city (or state initials) of the person whose number you're looking for. The number will pop up instantly. Often, you can leave out the word "phonebook," though city or state will be required.

6. Get the name If you have a phone number but want the name or the location, just type in the number - no hyphens, parentheses or spaces necessary.

7. Look up synonyms With all due respect to Webster, you can now get definitions in a flash by typing "define:" and your search word. You'll come up with definitions, synonyms and links for further information.

8. Explore specific sites Let's say you want to look up a past column by your favorite computer columnist. Hmm, I wonder who that might be. . . . Well, let's say it is yours truly. If you type "the PC Guy," some dastardly people using the same name will appear in your results. So restrict your search solely to The Record's Web site by using the site keyword as follows: "the pc guy site:northjersey.com."

9. Did you know you can search for pictures with Google? Just go to the Google home page, click on images, and pick out your favorite pics. You can further narrow your searches using the advanced search function to, for example, retrieve certain types or sizes of files.

10. At your fingertips Simplify all your searches by incorporating the Google search bar into your browser. Go to google.com, click "More," scroll down the page to Google Tools, then click on Toolbar and follow directions from there.

Two new and free utilities help you find files, documents, and email messages that might otherwise remain lost in digital space.

Google Desktop Search is a free search utility from the makers of the world's leading Internet search engine. It allows you to "google" the contents of your computer instead of the Internet. Google Desktop Search provides full text search over your email, computer files, chats, and the web pages you've viewed. Unlike traditional computer search software that updates once a day, Google Desktop Search updates continually for most file types, so that when you receive a new email in Outlook, for example, you can search for it within seconds. For security reasons, the index of searchable information created by Desktop Search is stored on your own computer. Click here to download the Google Desktop Search software

Lookout is a search engine designed to work primarily with Microsoft Outlook to help you find email messages, but it can be configured to search all of the files on your computer just like Google Desktop Search. Built on top of a powerful search engine, Lookout is the only personal search utility that can search all of your email from directly within Outlook. You can use Lookout to search your Outlook email messages, contacts, calendar, notes, tasks, etc. Just enter your search and press enter. Microsoft was so impressed with Lookout that it bought the company. Download Lookout here

Once you have a USB flash drive, one of the best ways to keep your important files synchronized between your PC and the flash drive is to use the new and totally free utility from Microsoft called SyncToy. Easier to use and more flexible than the old Briefcase utility built-into Windows, SyncToy will let you keep your choice of files or folders in exact sync between your PC and USB flash drive. Word processing files are typically fairly small, so it may be possible to sync your entire active clients folder with your USB flash drive and have all of your documents with you if you need to work on them from home or any place you can find a PC. Download SyncToy and give it a try.

We at Cooperative Network Integrators have long sung the praises of GoToMyPC for remote access and control of your office or home PC. A comparison test of leading remote access services in the February 2006 issue of Laptop magazine supports that high praise. GoToMyPC version 5.0 was rated the best service for its speed and ability to do drag and drop file transfers.

A fairly close second was LogMeIn Pro, the paid premium version of the free LogMeIn service.

Next was I'm InTouch which was a little crash-prone, but offers the advantage of access to certain features on your PC from cell phones and PDA's.

Trailing the pack was Webex PCNow, which Laptop felt was overpriced for the features offered.