Web surfing? It is now considered both an art and an exact science. Millions of people are now connected through the internet. There are millions of homepages/websites that are available to a web surfer. Web sites can range from domestic, commercial and academic to government networks, personal and service oriented.

The internet, which was once a military and academic experiment, became phenomenal during the 1990°'s. Right now, it is part of our daily routines. We send and receive emails, chat, download mp3s, file share, do research, buy and sell stuff and do a thousand more activities through the internet. The revolutionized the idea of having a globalized community. It had such a profound impact on our worldviews, on the cultures and ideas of the world and on other various fields.

There are a million possibilities in the internet. How are you using it? Are you running out of websites to surf? Do you want to maximize your time at the cafe? Do you think that there are fewer and fewer websites that are cool nowadays? Are down to checking your mail, chatting and downloading mp3s? Do you want to do more than that? Here are some down and dirty tricks to maximize your cyber surfing experience:

1. Use Search Engines.

Specific search engines can give you specific results. Google is one that has the most number and the fastest hits. However, there are times when Google hits are too many that you get more garbage than actual useful results. Using a couple of search engines is also important. Having a specific search engine for your local searches will help reduce unwanted hits. Yahoo is a good way of handling most of your image searches. Most search engines also have local versions. You can know it by looking for the country's code in the URL. It is preceded by a dot. Examples of these are .kr for Korea, .ca for Canada, .sg for Singapore, etc. You should know your country's country code. There are also search engines that look through other search engines. One example of this is Meta Crawler. Search engines have different lists of homepages, so it's also good if you try and search more than one.

2. Pay attention to Links.

Did you ever search for a band? Try looking at their

list of links. These links can be gateways to other similar-genre bands. Most of the homepages available in the have LINKS dedicated to other websites under the similar fields or additional information that complements the website. What are the sites that you are currently searching? What are your interests? Try your favorite website, look for links and try jumping from one link to another.

3. Make a list of your interests.

Oftentimes, people surf the without thinking much about their interests. IF you try and jot down all the fields that you are interested in, then you will have a bigger chance of finding cool websites. Are you interested in underground film making? Do you want to watch video streams of your favorite TV show? Then try searching for them. Remember that your interests are the cool things for you.

4. Use proxies if sites are blocked.

You might be surfing the net through a firewall. In this case, you might not maximize your experience because many sites and hits are filtered out. If you are trying to search sites while at work, chances are the computer network that you are using has lots of restrictions. Proxies can help you search restricted and filtered sites anonymously. Some proxies need a proxy software which can be downloaded for free while some offer free proxy websites. There are also those that require you to subscribe for a minimum fee.

5. Pay attention to details.

When I searched for Pantera, I learned about Phil Anselmo so I searched engines about him where I saw the name Seth Putnam mentioned. I tried searching for him, and thus I found AC which is his band. Details are clues to other cooler websites. Another way of maximizing your cyber experience is by doing a random jump to an event, a person, entity, organization, product, place or phenomenon which is mentioned.

6. Be equipped.

Some sites cannot open with Firefox or other browsers. Majority of the sites available are either Netscape or Microsoft Explorer compatible. An updated version of your software is important too if you want to view new sites. Nowadays, there are a many sites that run on Flash so it's also good to have a Macromedia Flash installed. Other enhancers that are useful in surfing the net are firewalls and anti-virus software. Remember that it's better to be safe than sorry. Viruses can keep you from viewing sites. Eliminate the threats by preparing for them.

A person's surfing habits differ from each other. Your needs are personal and specific depending on your interests. Moreover, being cool or having seen a cool website is subject to personal preference and public opinion. So it's good if you know how to maximize your cyber experience. Enjoy web surfing!