Maximum Google

The Competition: Search Alternatives Offer Cool Features

You shouldn't rely exclusively on Google for your Web searches. From time to time, it makes sense to use one of these other search engines.

Alltheweb, like Google, is graphically sparse, so it responds to search requests with blazing speed. It's also hot on the heels of Google with News, Pictures, Video, Audio, and FTP file tabs. AlltheWeb is smart, too. For example, Advanced Search (under Video) lets you specify whether you want streamed or downloadable files, and in which video file format.

Ilor simplifies the task of keeping track of links while searching. Let your cursor hover over any link on a page of ILor's search results, and up pops the Lorlinks menu, which contains various handy tools. One tool sticks links into a pop-up box for your convenience (you can e-mail the links to a buddy later, for example). Another tool adds the saved links to your Favorites list.

ProFusion allows you to search within 22 broad categories, including legal, living, career, technology, science, and travel. ProFusion's Alerts feature notifies you by e-mail when a designated page changes or when new results appear for search queries you specify.

Teoma enhances typical search results by including links to "refinements"--search terms that you might logically use to narrow a search. For example, if you search on the word "airplane," Teoma provides links to popular radio-controlled airplane hobby sites, with refinement links to "airplane tickets," "paper airplane," and even "Jefferson Airplane."

Vivisimo breaks down search results into category clusters, enabling you to quickly choose the most valuable URLs. If you search on "scuba," for example, Vivisimo builds a left pane with subcategories such as magazines, equipment, and islands. You can also search any of 30 specific sites or portals, including CNN, the New York Times, and EBay.