Using the Web to Get Help

One of the best ways to find help for a Unix problem is to do a Google search (www.google.com). Besides maintaining an extremely large database of Web pages, Google also provides search results from Usenet discussion groups, which can include a wealth of technical information and often provide better answers to Unix problems than other Web searches do.

Tips

Click the "Groups" link at the top of the page for results limited to online discussion groups such as Usenet. Figure 3.6 shows an example of search results using this approach.
If you are looking for help with an error message, enter the exact text of the error, in quotes.
Try using quotes to enclose any two or more words when you want to find them as a single unit.
Put a - (hyphen) in front of words you want to exclude from search resultsfor example, - windows to exclude results that mention the Windows operating system.

Figure 3.6. Search results from Google, limited to online discussion groups. Shown in the Safari browser.