altavista.com

altavista.com

This one's a bit techy - and partly adapted from an essay of mine. But I suppose it might interest somebody! A few years back, around the time of the 'internet boom,' it seemed that there were two clear leaders in the searching arena. Yahoo was the choice of the masses, while anybody wanting ... Read review

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Alta Vista - A new look at an old favourite

Advantages: Large database, powerful advanced search
Disadvantages: Not the biggest, lots of commercial distractions

This one's a bit techy - and partly adapted from an essay of mine. But I suppose it might interest somebody!

A few years back, around the time of the 'internet boom,' it seemed that there were two clear leaders in the searching arena. Yahoo was the choice of the masses, while anybody wanting to do some serious searching was pointed towards the mighty AltaVista. Yet between 2000 and 2002, the average number of users per month plummeted ...
...BBC News Online article). Now Google seems to be the first choice for all. The question is how does AltaVista measure up these days – did it deserve to be eclipsed by Google?

First of all, going by the size of the database, AltaVista would still appear to be a good bet. At the end of 2002, it was thought to index 1,689 million web pages. This is less than Google’s 3,033 million but more than Hotbot and MSN. (Figures: http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/) ... more

AlexWales 25.02.2003
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of altavista.com

Download Speed of Results

Advanced Search Features

Accuracy of Search Resu...

Amount of Dead Links

Ability to Search by Im...

Ability to Search by Ph...

The search goes on...

Advantages: Uncluttered main search page, fast loading, generally accurate results
Disadvantages: Too many dead links

Altavista.com is not a bad little search engine at all, the site itself is very uncluttered with very few images and mostly just related text links, so the pages load quickly enough. You can either search using the big search box at the top of the screen, or you can look through the various categories listed below it. The main search box gives you a few options, including whether to switch the family filter on or off and you can choose the language. ...
...to include various information such as description, web page size and URL, date last modified, number of results to be displayed and related pages etc. And once you’ve changed your settings, an example is given of a search result incorporating all the settings you have requested which is a nice useful feature. The search facility itself is excellent, I typed in a few examples to try it out, starting with my own website and within seconds my ...

Squiggles 27.02.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of altavista.com

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Amount of Dead Links

What Was Once The Market Leader Is No More

Advantages: Well respected, useful as a complete portal.
Disadvantages: Slow, full of advertising and dead links.

Altavista is managed by 'Altavista The Search Company', based in the US. For many years this search engine has been the number one throughout the world. It has evolved from a simple meta-engine to a portal of directories, databases and banks of graphics and the like. Altavista could be described as a portal too, providing news and that sort of thing. I may sound like I love altavista, but I'm trying to give it a good hearing first. I personally ...
...be my favorite, as did it with many millions of people. I have sinced moved on to Google. Altavista has grown out of what I would call an accurate seach engine into the catagory, money making machine providing no service of any use at all. Everytime you make a search, you are always hit with at least three 'partner site' listings. These are useless and simply pay to be there. My other problem with it is that it's very out of date. The robots that ...

darrenloud 04.08.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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Amount of Dead Links

STILL GOING STRONG

Advantages: Quick. Relevent results.
Disadvantages: Cant Search using questions.

I, like many, had become addicted to GOOGLE. A couple of weeks ago I decided to return to a few of the Search Engines that I had commonly used prior to this. I was very impressed with Altavista. It is very simple and uncluttered, yet managed do its job extremely well. ~~Download Speed~~ This was one aspect of the site that really impressed me. It typically took less than 10 seconds, depending of course on the amount of hits. ~~Advanced Search Features~~ ...
...It is possible to completely customise your search, with options such as; -Description -Web Page Size -Number of Results -Related Pages -URL -Date Last Modified You can also choose to Search using the Family Filter, which attempts to try and block out any controversial sites, though this cannot be relied on 100% ~~Accuracy of Seach Results~~ Overall I found the links arising from searching on Altavista to be mostly accurate. Very few of ...

stuartpeters 09.06.2001 · Read full review
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A VIEW FROM ABOVE

Advantages: Good search, language trans
Disadvantages: Its loosing the race of popularity to google

...on which I am writing. Altavista.com Altavista.com “View from Above” That is what Alta Vista means. Altavista was the first search engine to provide searches in different language and was acquired by CMGI Inc. Though it is one of the major portals when it started giving services and was really the most popular one with a best search services given. But somewhere down the line Google came and the searching at altavista reduced absolutely ...
...visited website on this planet. Its been ranked next to google as far as searching is concerned. 1. Google 2. Altavista 3. AOL Lets breakdown to the services, which Altavista provides. 1. Altavista Search It is the world’s fastest next to google, most comprehensive search service available in 25 languages with 8 distinct search dimensions. Altavista just to give competition to google started the Look alike of Google, www.raging.com. If you ...

asyis 19.04.2001 · Read full review
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My favourite search enigine

Advantages: always find the best results and can get there quickley by typing www.av.com
Disadvantages: sometimes can't find what u want (hardly ever happens)

Altavista.com is my favourite search engine in the world. Compared to yahoo.com, which is full of pictures and lots of links, Altavista has a very simple layout. It has doesn’t have many images and is mostly just links to the categories for your search. This helps the page load quicker. It is very easy to search for what you are looking for. If you know what sort of category it is going to be in then just scroll down, enter that category, ...
...the big box at the top, which is the easiest and quickest way to find what you are looking for. I find the quickest way to get to AltaVista is by typing in www.av.com it save a bit of time and gives your fingers a rest. The main search box is yellow at the top of your screen and it gives you some options, which you can use. FAMILY FILTER – This filters out all pornographic and offensive web pages, so if you have a child I recommend that you ...

saintsfanuk 12.03.2001 · Read full review
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Well specified engine
no searching in document files, unclear level of page support, advertising on results pages (*)
Lots of storage and features.
none (*)
Accurate hits. User friendly
Slow search speed. (*)
Less irrelevant listings in commercial categories than almost any other search engine.
Non commercial stuff is just the same Inktomi database you find in many other search engines. (*)
Easy to use anb loads of useful info
none (*)
good
american based (*)
Completely Free
Can Be Quite Slow At Times (*)
always finds a ueseful site
none (*)
Selected, human reviewed, quality sites
Category navigation is missing from the category intro pages. (*)
Makes downloading easier/faster
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Free To Join!!, Attractive Payout Rate!!
Freebie Signup Cash Not Credited!!, No Support!!, Low Minimum Payout!! (*)
You could win prizes just by using this search engine, a great referral system
The search results aren't as good as Google (*)
good search by pictures
a bit slow at times, quality of results average (*)
(*) Reviews by Ciao members


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