There are plenty of alternatives to Google when you need to hunt down elusive information. Here are some of the best search engines, including the idiosyncratic "StumbleUpon" 

Getting the most of the Internet can be a bit hit and miss; take, for example search engines. How many times have you typed in what appears to be an apparently simple term and had to sort through either irrelevant or spurious results? While it's possible to refine your search criteria (by using the Boolen technique, http://tiny.cc/Gk-HqM, or limiting yourself to between two and six keywords), there are also tools available to help you maximise your success rate. 

For a start make sure you're using the right search engine. Google, who have almost a half share of the market, are so synonymous with search activity that their company name has morphed into a verb. Unfortunately, I find Googling somewhat like casting a huge fishing net into uncharted waters, only to discover when I haul the net in its full of fish I neither want nor need.  

That said, www.scholar.google.com does offer something pretty unique, returning results from the academic community that are less likely to contain outrageous misinformation. Another Google resource can be found at http://books.google.com this site allows you to search actual texts, although some contributors/publishers have limited what's available in terms of preview. Nevertheless, it can be both enlightening and entertaining. 

Downright Misleading 

A variation on the Google theme can be found at www.scroogle.org/scrapen8.html. 

This search engine promises "no cookies, no search term records and deletion of your access log within 48 hours”. It also has the advantage of not displaying Google ads, which are mildly off-putting at the best and downright misleading at worst. 

There are plethora of search engines, for example, Yahoo (the subject of a takeover bid by Microsoft), HotBot (where you can customise the appearance of your page) and Lycos (that automatically offers refined search options).  

Metasearch engines, such as WebCrawler, collect and collate details from multiple search engines and directories. Given the varying criteria different search engines use to construct their returns, the result produced cover a wider spectrum than a single source application. Plus you only have to type in your keywords once to use several search engines simultaneously.  

Obviously, don't forget many large sites have search engines that enable you to look for information on their own pages, for example, wikipedia.org  

The acknowledged kind of random searching, however, is StumbleUpon : www.stumbleupon.com The idea is that you complete a tick-box questionnaire about your interests, thereby creating a personal profile, and you're directed to sites accordingly. In order to activate and navigate this process you need to install the stumble toolbar, then you can click away to your hearts's content. 

My favourite search engine though can be found at www.grokker.com . 

What I particularly like about their approach is they've got to grips with the fact most people don't just want  a bunch of seemingly meaningless links, so they provide results broken down into useful categories.