The Oxford Knowledge Company

Over the next three months these articles will be devoted to how to tackle commonly occurring problems or situations with searching the Web. The solutions will lie in a combination of browser tricks and Web searching strategies.

This month's: " What was the name of that site again…?", deals with what you do when you know have a dim memory of seeing a really useful Web site but have no memory as to the name of the site, or anything concrete that could help you find it really quickly with a search engine.

And of course, what to do to ensure that this doesn't happen again!

This happens to me at least once a month, even though I try to store useful sites in some sort of sensible way in my Internet Explorer Favourites, and use services such as Backflip. Luckily, I don't think I've ever failed to track down the site after a while, although each time it has cost me up to one hour of potentially save-able time.

Firstly, check that you haven't maniacally stored it in your Favourites folder. You may have no memory of having done this, but even so, you may have done it; anyone over the age of 30 should question the reliability of their memory when it comes to such finicky details. (In your 30s, the subconscious stops bothering you with such reminders like "Don't forget that you filed that unique copy of the invoice under 'Letters'".

To do this, try searching Files or Folders with the Windows search. Locating your Favourites folder will be the easy bit. Thinking of a suitable search term will be the hard bit - if you really can't remember the name of the site.

If this fails, as it probably will, turn next to your browser's History. This is the cache that the Web browser keeps of all sites you have visited. You can see how many days worth of History you have by looking at your Internet Options. To search your history, click the History button on the browser toolbar and then choose search (IE 5 and above). Alternatively, try browsing through the list by Date. For this strategy to work, your memory of the site will have to be at least good enough to be jogged into recollection at seeing the URL.

If these strategies have failed, then you have to go to the Web and try first to remember how you found the site in the first place.

You may have found the site using a search engine. If your browser is enabled to store information entered into forms, when you revisit a search engine you may find that the original search term(s) you used is still there.

If you found a link to the site from another Web site, then return to that site and if it has such a thing, use the site search to try to reproduce your search. Unlike with a search engine, you are not likely to be able to see the search you did before, because you probably found your link by browsing the site. You are therefore at the mercy of the site search as to whether you find your link: how often the site is indexed, the quality of the search index and the syntax supported (for example, a phrase search may not work).

Finally, the last problem you may find is that when you do locate the link, the page you wanted to read may have been removed. If so, despair not; Google's cache may yet come to your rescue.

Google is unique amongst the major search engines in that it offers users access to a cached copy of all pages contained in the search index. These cached pages are often kept for some time after a page has been removed. First find the URL (the Web address, using one of the methods outlined above). Then type related:theurlyoufound to see Google's list of all pages related to that page (included the actual page itself).

When the URL you are looking for appears in the list of results, click on the word 'Cached' in the result listing, to see a cached copy of the page.

This painstaking series of methods has never failed me where the half-remembered Web site was last seen less than three months ago. Here's a checklist for next time it happens to you.

1. Browse /search your Favourites folder
2. Browse /search your History
3. Search again at the search engine you most likely used to find it originally
4. Search the site on which you may have found the site listed
5. Use Google's cache for pages that have moved since you last looked

To minimize the risk of this happening to you again: be sure to Add to Favourites (or Add Bookmark if you use Netscape) when you find a site. Better still, take the time to add the site to your Backflip directory (a site which manages bookmarks online) - this way you can give the site a description that will help you to find it again.

Next month we'll tackle: finding people's contact details and sussing them out in general...