Celebrating National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2009

Internet security and online safety are topics that leave many people scratching their heads. While many companies and organizations work to make the Internet a safer place, it can be difficult to know what to do as an Internet user beyond creating numerous passwords for your various online accounts and steering clear of that email from a "long lost relative" who wants you to immediately wire thousands of dollars to him. Here's the good news: even though security can become quite technical and complicated, there are simple steps you can take that can make a big difference in helping to keep your information safe.


This month, Google joins the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), governmental agencies, corporations, schools and non-profit organizations in recognizing National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Throughout October, we'll be raising awareness of important Internet security and safety issues that will teach you how to be an informed web user. Keep an eye on our various product blogs, as we'll be sharing tips that are tailored to users of Google products and services. To kick off the series, visit our newly created Google Cyber Security Awareness Channel on YouTube to watch a variety of online safety videos created by individuals and groups with an interest in cyber security.

The web is a great platform for all kinds of things — finding information, interacting with others and even running your business. Practicing good cyber security habits can help keep it that way. Join us this month by brushing up on your cyber security awareness and sharing the tips you like with others.

Update on 10/22/2009: We're excited to hear that the U.S. House of Representatives today unanimously passed a resolution formally supporting the goals and ideals of National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2009. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke’s resolution signals the government's willingness and commitment to help better protect the nation's online and information security.

Posted by Eric Davis, Head of Anti-Malvertising

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Refine your search results with new Search Options

In May, we launched Search Options, a side panel that lets you filter, refine and generate different views of your search results. We've received lots of positive feedback, and we're seeing more and more people using Search Options every day.

Today, we're announcing nine new Search Options tools: past hour, specific date range, more shopping sites, fewer shopping sites, visited pages, not yet visited, books, blogs and news. These features have been rolling out gradually and will be available globally in English by the end of the day. You can try them yourself by searching Google and clicking "Show options" in the blue bar just under the logo.

Past hour and Specific date range: With these tools you can choose to see only the most recent results in our index, or see results from a specific time period. This can be particularly helpful when you're looking for the freshest information, or if you have some idea of when the information you're looking for may have been published to the web.

Click on the image for a larger version

More shopping sites and Fewer shopping sites: Now you can choose "More shopping sites" to show additional commercial pages and display prices from those pages right in the search results. If you're doing product research and are not quite ready to make a purchase, you can choose to see "Fewer shopping sites" to filter out many of the commercial sites.

Visited pages and Not yet visited: Rediscover pages you've visited before by clicking "Visited pages," or filter out the websites you've seen by clicking "Not yet visited." This can be particularly helpful when you're researching something you've already explored and you want to return right where you left off. To use this option you'll need to be signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled.

Books, Blogs and News: Click on these filters to see results only from these sources. Putting these filters together, along with videos, forums, and reviews, allows you to quickly switch between different source types right on the search results page.

We hope you get a chance to try out these powerful new ways to refine your search results. Please visit our help center to learn more about Search Options and leave us feedback. And stay tuned for more!

Posted by Nundu Janakiram, Product Manager, and Patrick Riley, Software Engineer

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