In this guide, we show you how you can find files using the Yahoo! search engine. If you’ve used Google and wondered if you could look at another set of search results, you can always try another search engine just to see if results are different. We show you how to narrow your search results using a few Boolean tricks. The good news is that if you know quotation marks and filetype search queries, Yahoo! works in the exact same way. If you didn’t read the Google guide, this guide pretty much presents the same information as shown in the Google guide because the same tricks apply to this search engine.
Using Quotation Marks
Quotation marks tell Yahoo! you want explicitly in a search result. Any result that does not contain a result contained in your quoted search query will be discarded. For example:
Search query: pens pencil paper.
Result: Yahoo! will display any page that contains the words pens and/or pencil and/or paper.
Yahoo! may favor results that contain all three, but it isn’t necessarily discarding pages that only contains two of the three results.
Search query: “pens” “pencil” “paper”
Result: Yahoo! will display only results that contains all three words in the result.
Quotation marks can be extended to whole phrases. For example:
Search query: Joe bought groceries
Result: Yahoo! will display results that contain the words Joe and/or bought and/or groceries.
However…
Search query: “Joe bought groceries”
Result: Yahoo! will display results with only that exact phrase (those words in that order).
These concepts can be used to find things like music. To help with results, you can search for things like “MP3” or the name of a one-click hosting company or cyberlocker.
Search by filetype
While cyberlockers may show up less in results using this method, it may be possible to find a file through this method. So…
Search query: mp3 [insert artist name here] [insert track name here]
Result: Yahoo! will simply find pages with those words in there.
However…
Search query: filetype:mp3 [insert artist name here] [insert track name here]
Result: Yahoo! will look for any mp3 files with those phrases.
Generally speaking, you’ll probably come across a bunch of FTP sites that is basically a giant directory of files sitting on a server somewhere. Since there is no way of telling half of the time if the FTP was set up accidentally in this manner or intentionally (whether for good or bad purposes), it’s always a good idea to scan anything you download in this manner.
It’s actually interesting what one can find when using a little Boolean in Yahoo! search. This is just one example.
FAQ
Can someone trace me downloading files from servers?
File transfers, when you are downloading directly from a server, depends on 3 points: you, the server, and the line between. So, you have to ask yourself three questions:
1. Is my computer secure from malware such as keyloggers and spyware?
2. Are there any way someone can snoop on my personal connection (i.e. wireless traffic packet sniffing or ISP level monitoring)
3. Is the source from where I’m downloading secure?
If the answer is yes to all three, then you should theoretically be safe. Just remember due diligence when downloading files in this manner.