GOOGLE TOOLS & TRICKS YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED
Beat internet blocks
We’ve already seen that you can override Google’s geographical limitations by adding ‘/ncr’ to overseas Google addresses (see page 51). To bypass wider internet blocks, use Google’s free Public DNS service ( www.snipca.com/24705) to switch from your internet service provider’s DNS (domain name system) to a global public server. This lets you view sites blocked by your ISP, prevents many sites from forcibly redirecting you, and may also speed up your browser.
Download fonts for free
Google Fonts ( https://fonts.google.com, see screenshot above right) hosts more than 800 fonts from dozens of designers. Download any for free to use on posters or even your own website.
Make Chrome faster
Give Chrome a boost by compressing data sent and received by web pages. Chrome does this automatically on Android and IOS, but to compress traffic on your PC you need Google’s free Data Saver extension ( www.snipca.com/24683). For security reasons it doesn’t compress data when you’re in incognito mode or using an HTTPS site.
Access your PC remotely
Programs like Teamviewer are brilliant for accessing files on another computer. Google has made it even easier with its free mobile app, Chrome Remote Desktop (Android www.snipca.com/24706; IOS www.snipca.com/ 24707), which gives you remote access via your existing Google account.
See how often your favourite word appears in books
You may know about Google Books – the world’s most comprehensive index of books – but what about its Ngram Viewer tool ( https://books.google.com/ ngrams)? This wonderful statistical tool reveals how often specific words, phrases and names appear in different books within a chosen date range, then plots the data on a graph that you can share online for free.
See what everyone else is searching for
The multi-coloured Hot Searches wall from Google Trends ( www.snipca. com/24691) reveals what other UK Google users are searching for, in real time. ‘The Queen’s birthday honours list’ and Ronaldo proved particularly popular on the day we visited. For even more insights, visit https://trends.google.co.uk.
Find your lost phone or tablet
The Android app formerly known as Android Device Manager was relaunched in June with a sensible new name, Find My Device ( www.snipca. com/24709). It uses GPS to track your device so you can locate it, lock it and erase its contents remotely via your browser ( www.google.com/ android/find).
Explore global government data
How does the UK’S national debt compare with that of Greece? Where do we rank in the global league for infectious diseases? Google’s Public Data Explorer site ( www. google.com/publicdata/directory, see screenshot above) reveals all, and maps the data on graphs and charts. Search for statistics and even create your own graphs.
Download all today’s news
Google’s free read-it-later app, Newsstand (Android www.snipca.com/24713; IOS www.snipca.com/24714), offers a customisable feed of news articles, in-depth reads and videos from hundreds of different sources. You can opt to have all content made available offline if your storage space can handle it.
Download old Google Doodles
Google’s celebratory Doodles, which have been around for nearly as long as Google Search, are all archived online (go to www.google.com/doodles then click Doodles Archive). Download any of them for free by right-clicking a Doodle, then selecting ‘Save image as’. Animations will download as GIFS, illustrations as PNGS.
7What is it? When you run Windows Disk Clean-up to remove junk files from your PC, the option to empty the thumbnail cache is selected by default.
How is it slowing your PC down? Most PCS are configured to show thumbnail images instead of icons for certain types of files, such as images. To achieve this, Windows automatically creates thumbnails and stores them in a cache. If you delete all your thumbnails using Disk Clean-up, then Windows will have to rebuild the cache at some point. This is a resource-sapping task that will inevitably slow down your PC.
How do I change it? Whenever you run Windows Disk Clean-up (click Start, type disk clean, press Enter, then click OK), remember to untick ‘Thumbnails’ (see screenshot above), then click OK.