# Share your "internet secret weapons"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 27, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797 "2012-01-27T00:39:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/1 "2012-01-27T00:39:01Z")
Another thread got me thinking, and I thought it might be cool for everyone to share their resources and/or techniques that --while not _really_ secret-- are not commonly known by the average internet user, or are in your opinion underutilized. It could be just a method you use to search google, a link to a useful website, resource, whatever.
Mine is [WolframAlpha](http://www.wolframalpha.com/). I’m sure some people here have used it, but there are a lot of people unaware of it’s awesomeness. It looks like just another web search engine, but it’s not like that at all – it’s like an easy to interact with database of _everything_.
If you haven’t ever used it, try going to their list of [example queries by topic.](http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/) Once you click on a topic, click on one of the example queries to see how it works and what kind of info it returns.
Or, you could just [click here for a random example](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/random.jsp). (But that might be just a simple, mundane example that’s not necessarily impressive or demonstrative.)
So, what are some of your “secret voodoo powers” of the interwebs?
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/2 "2012-01-27T00:46:32Z")
P.S. There is an iPhone and Android app, but you can just make a shortcut link to their [mobile site](http://m.wolframalpha.com/) on your home screen for free.
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### Author:  [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/3 "2012-01-27T00:53:16Z")
Adblock+ is a plugin for Firefox that blocks 99% of all online ads. When I first installed it, I was amazed by the sheer amount of mental chaos that disappeared when I no longer had ads competing for my attention. The downside is that many of your favorite websites/blogs/forums only exist because of advertising revenue, and when you’re blocking ads you’re effectively cutting off their revenue stream. So use with thoughtfulness.
Edit to add: There’s a version of Adblock that works with Chrome as well.
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/4 "2012-01-27T01:00:25Z")
> [@FlyByNight512](#):
>
> Adblock+ is a plugin for Firefox that blocks 99% of all online ads. When I first installed it, I was amazed by the sheer amount of mental chaos that disappeared when I no longer had ads competing for my attention. The downside is that many of your favorite websites/blogs/forums only exist because of advertising revenue, and when you’re blocking ads you’re effectively cutting off their revenue stream. So use with thoughtfulness.
There’s a setting (under _Filter Preferences_) in the newest versions of AdBlock Plus that allows you to “Allow some [non-intrusive adverting](https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads)” - I think it’s on by default. So if you want to be thoughtful to some of your favorite websites, you can make sure that’s turned on.
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### Author:  [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/5 "2012-01-27T01:22:57Z")
When I’m shopping online, or offline even, I look at [http://www.pricegrabber.com/](http://www.pricegrabber.com/) to find out where’s it cheapest. Also, my state has public access to court records, so you just type in a name and you can see if people have been arrested, married, evicted, or sued- handy!
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/6 "2012-01-27T02:08:01Z")
> **[eBay Auction Sniper - eSnipe](https://www.esnipe.com/)**
_ **Warning!** _ If you use it against me, I will find you and I _WILL_ fuck your shit up.
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### Author:  [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/7 "2012-01-27T02:13:44Z")
> **[Is it down? Check at Down for Everyone or Just Me](https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com)**
>
> Check if a website or service is down or having problems and report your problems! Click now to check/report problems!
Very handy if, like me, you have a flaky Internet connection and aren’t sure why that one website won’t load properly.
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/8 "2012-01-27T03:02:23Z")
The [NYC Map](http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/) at [www.nyc.gov](http://www.nyc.gov)
Unlike Google maps, it pinpoints the exact building, and has virtually all the information about it you could imagine. (Owner, lot area and frontage, square footage, year built, number of stories, zoning, etc.) From that section of the site you can also find out the local parking restrictions for the street it’s on.
And while there’s no street view, you can see zoomable aerial photos from 1924, 1951, 1996, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
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### Author:  [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/9 "2012-01-27T03:12:54Z")
> [@voltaire](#):
>
> There’s a setting (under _Filter Preferences_) in the newest versions of AdBlock Plus that allows you to “Allow some [non-intrusive adverting](https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads)” - I think it’s on by default. So if you want to be thoughtful to some of your favorite websites, you can make sure that’s turned on.
Ah, excellent. I wasn’t aware of that. (It must be working!) I know you can disable AdBlock for specific sites, which is sometimes worth it.
I follow a few blogs who have ‘sponsors’ that are carefully selected to be of interest to the people reading the blog, and then their ads are presented as nicely formatted images down one side of the page. AdBlock doesn’t cut those out, I’d assumed that they were hosted by the blog and therefore weren’t tripping the filters. I actually follow those links a lot of the time. It’s worlds better than sites with designated blocks of Google ads.
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/10 "2012-01-27T04:47:20Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#):
>
> [eSnipe.com](http://eSnipe.com)
>
> _ **Warning!** _ If you use it against me, I will find you and I _WILL_ fuck your shit up.
There are plenty of other automatic sniper sites and many of them are free. I don’t know why you’d use one you have to pay for.
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/11 "2012-01-27T12:32:08Z")
[http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/](http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/)
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/12 "2012-01-27T13:28:58Z")
This is kind of lame, I guess, but I use it most days. It’s [a list of upcoming TV shows](http://tvcountdown.com), with a countdown to the minute. Great for someone who, oh… I don’t know, may need to know international TV schedules for some reason he may not want to share on a public message board.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/13 "2012-01-27T14:08:15Z")
> [@Princhester](#):
>
> There are plenty of other automatic sniper sites and many of them are free. I don’t know why you’d use one you have to pay for.
Where’s the fun in that? Real men snipe the old fashioned way, with two windows open, refreshing one for the time, and the other to pull the trigger at T minus six seconds.
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### Author:  [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/14 "2012-01-27T14:30:51Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#):
>
> [http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/](http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/)
Excellent name/link pairing.
My internet usage is pretty boring (other than SDMB of course) but my secret weapon is link organization. I read a couple dozen web comics and they don’t all update every day so under comics I have a folder for each day and in each is the set of links for that day.
I also have my homepage set to new tab so that I’m not loading a page that I care about once every single time I open a new tab.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/15 "2012-01-27T14:42:56Z")
[RetailMeNot](http://www.retailmenot.com/) - I check this before I buy anything online. Most of the time the codes are bogus or do not apply to the specific item I’m buying, but every now and then I have gotten some pretty substantial discounts.
One simple thing a lot of people don’t seem to know, and I use this for the SDMB a lot (because the in-site search sucks), but you can use Google to search a single site, e.g. _site:[Straight Dope Message Board - Your direct line to thousands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) [search terms]_.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/16 "2012-01-27T14:58:12Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> but you can use Google to search a single site, e.g. _site:[Straight Dope Message Board - Your direct line to thousands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) [search terms]_.
Also, you don’t need the “http://” or the “boards.” part of that:
[site:straightdope.com internet secret](https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Astraightdope.com+internet+secret&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1)
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/17 "2012-01-27T15:01:57Z")
> [@voltaire](#):
>
> Another thread got me thinking, and I thought it might be cool for everyone to share their resources and/or techniques that --while not _really_ secret-- are not commonly known by the average internet user, or are in your opinion underutilized. It could be just a method you use to search google, a link to a useful website, resource, whatever.
>
> Mine is [WolframAlpha](http://www.wolframalpha.com/).
I typed in “Mozart”, only to find that this is (was) his birthday!
That site is pretty cool. I had no idea there were so many ways to calculate “Pi.”
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### Author:  [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/18 "2012-01-27T15:43:38Z")
Go to advanced privacy settings, set “prompt” for third-party cookies to find out who’s watching you.
Also, filing taxes for free through the IRS website link.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/19 "2012-01-27T16:56:40Z")
[Bugmenot.com](http://Bugmenot.com) for all those places that want you to login for shit. It’s getting less useful, unfortunately.
[Random.org](http://Random.org) for random numbers, or almost any other random thing.
[Calculatorsoup.com](http://Calculatorsoup.com) - I primarily use the time clock calculator but they have ton of different stuff.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797/20 "2012-01-27T17:01:53Z")
Awesome FF hint I got from the boards:
In any search box, right click and select “add a keyword for this search.” Put in a name and a simple keyword (I use two-letter codes related to the page) and from then on, whenever you need to search that page you just put the code and the search terms in the address bar. It’s somewhat similar to adding engines to the search box dropdown but doesn’t crowd that list.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-internet-secret-weapons/610797.md?page=2)