Advantages: Overall a powerful search engine if used correctly
Disadvantages: Too many adverts may slow it down

...Whenever the snow falls it covers everything, which stops people seeing what is really available. I think this is how it must be for many of Altavista users. Imagine having to wait for Lots of Adverts to Refresh Imagine having only 10 results per page Imagine having annoying Pop Up Windows Well these are here since AltaVista is trying to read your mind and help you find what you really, really want. It allows them to try and get you to look at wider results than you originally intended, and they are very successful at this. If that's what you think about Altavista.com then you must be using the wrong part of the impressive Altavista.com search engine. Don't' get me wrong, if you really enjoy watching the Adverts and the breaking News then don't let me stop you. However have you tried the following: www.raging.altavista... Read review

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Advantages: You WILL find the page you are looking for. Great sevice.
Disadvantages: No high security parently lock.

...There are many search engines on the internet but the one that stands out fromt the crowd and goes faster then the Lycos dog is Altavista. You type in the keywords you are looking for and on the page comes hundreds of webpages for your interest. Altavista is the best serach engine as it is the most popular and has almost every single webpage in the world on it. So you can find whatever you want. But if you want to be more sepific you can go under the headings for a image, sound search etc. So you can find MP3s to listen to all in one webpage. ALtavista is also uptodate on news headlines so you will never miss a news break if you have Altavista as your homepage. This search engine is the best run in the world, so join so many others in the one stop search page, www.altavista.com.... Read review

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Advantages: Established search engine offering sophisticated searches
Disadvantages: Littered with banner adds

...I have tended to use Altavista an awful lot because it has a lot to offer. Altavista offers unique search engines by country, and gives the ability to conduct relatively sophisticated searches in the 'Advanced Search'. Most companies and services submit their URLs to Altavista, so it is a must for getting the information that you want. Altavista offers a translation service, which I have used quite a bit. It offers translations both ways for the main European languages, but you must be careful with what comes out of it - it doesn't translate perfectly, but it is not bad for guidance. Finally, Altavista consistently gives very fast download times.... Read review

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Advantages: free
Disadvantages: sometimes takes a long time to find what you're looking for

...Whenever i want to search for anything at all on the internet, my hand automatically types in http://www.altavista.com or http//www.altavista.co.uk this search engine is truly amazing. It has been around for a number of years and has continually been improving. the page gives you an option of what language you want to use... so it can be accessed and understood by all non-english surfers all over the world. It has also recently introduced http://www.altavista.co.uk which is aimed at the english internet surfers. you can search on altavista about practically anything you want. from roast potatoes to downloading particular games. its truly terrific!... Read review

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Advantages: Efficient language searches
Disadvantages: Needs familiarisation

...I usually need to look for information in the web from sites in other languages, mostly in spanish and italian, often using english words. I have been through most search engines and the one that suits best I found was altavista.com. Why? Firstly, I think the engine is quite powerful and has links to many, many urls, more than other engines. If you know how to properly use it (specifications when searching) it narrows down the search to what you are looking for quite well. Ok, so most search engines do this you may think, but if you couple this with the language search then it is very powerful. This brings me to my second point. Altavista.com is not only a good engine for english searches but also, in my own experience, for websites in spanish and italian. The amount of links is impressive. You can specify the language you... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, easy to use, comprehensive
Disadvantages: Sometimes results not relevent

...Altavista is one of the first and best search engines on the web. You just simply type in what you're looking far, and within seconds (and I mean seconds, it's VERY quick), Altavista will have found loads of websites relevent to the topic. However, like all search engines, it isn't perfect, and it often comes up with things not relevent to what you are looking for. However, overall, this is a good fast search engine, which is presented in a very attractive way. It is also very well-known and famous. Altavista is great!... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, To the point.
Disadvantages: None worth mentioning.

...When I sit down to search for anything on the internet, be it worldwide or in the UK, AltaVista is where I turn. After about 4.5 years using it I have not had any cause for complaint as yet. Searches are carried out quickly and 90% of the time what I'm looking for is staring at me on the first page of 25 hits. AltaVista also has many other useful features apart from the basic search. One of my personal favorites is the translator, using the idea from the Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy, the Babel Fish you can translate text or whole web pages from one language to another. Another impressive tool is the image search tool. Which provides many more pictures that you perhaps required. Loads of choice for you. In general AltaVista is an excellent Search Engine.... Read review

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Advantages: Fast. User friendly. reliable results
Disadvantages: No major ones

...altavista.com.is a long established search engine and despite the arrival of a lot of newcomers,remains one of the best search engines. It is very quickly accessed,it has a seemingly huge data base, has advanced search features,and depicts the search results in a clear uncluttered way. Just as importantly its huge data base enables you to search for comparatively obscure or geographically wide randing sites.I have found it very useful for searching for freelance writer's markets in Asia or for searching lesser known on line magazine sites.I consider that usually it generates reliable results and the only other search engines that I use more frequently are google.com and alltheweb.com. Both of these are exceedingly fast and very good search engines. However, altavista.com,in my opinion,remains a very good search engine.!... Read review

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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 from 16 million to just 6 million. (Stats from a 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... Read review

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

...the amount of cost involved, amazon has been servicing people all around the world and the cost involved “BOOM!!!” must be really high. Anyways lets get to the topic 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 low. But till today, its been one of the most 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... Read review

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