What are Internet Explorer search prefixes?

Dave, a friend of mine was showing off his superior knowledge of Microsoft Internet Explorer (though he, of course, called it "IE" and, once, "MSIE") and really amazed me when in the Address bar he typed in something that caused it to give us a stock quote for the specified ticker symbol. How did he do that?

Dave's Answer:

I can totally understand your not wanting to go back to this "friend" of yours to ask how he pulled up a stock quote, but fortunately the solution is pretty simple if you know that what we're talking about are what Microsoft's team calls IE Search Prefixes. Your first step is to install this little script.

Then, to get a stock quote, for example, type quote msft in the MSIE address box, then press Return (or Enter, depending on your keyboard). To learn more about a specific movie, say, Casablanca, try movie casablanca instead.

Here's a full table of IE Search Prefixes, according to the MSN Search team's Weblog:

Prefix	Alternate	Query Target	Example
define	definition, dictionary	MSN Search, web search with definition	define alpaca
encarta		MSN Search, Encarta search	encarta history of china
images	image	MSN Search, image search	images corvette
kb		Microsoft Knowledge Base	kb microsoft word
ms		Microsoft.com site	ms windows xp
movies	movie	MSN Movies	movies the incredibles
msdn		Microsoft MSDN	msdn cocreateguid
msn		MSN Search, web search	msn chicken fried rice
music		MSN Music	music peter gabriel
news		MSN Search, news search	news iraq
shop	shopping	MSN Shopping	shop digital camera
quote	stockquote	MSN Money, stock quote	quote msft
syn	thesaurus	Encarta thesaurus	syn vanguard

Us Mac OS X users don't have to miss out on the fun either: if you want to have all these nifty prefixes available within the popular Apple Safari browser, just install the $12 Saft utility, which adds lots of cool features to Safari in addition to simple Address box prefix shortcuts.

Saft does include some nice default prefixes too, particularly if you don't want to keep going to Microsoft's sites for information. For example, the IE Search Prefix "movie" takes you to MSN Movies, whereas Saft's prefix "imdb" takes you to Amazon's Internet Movie Database (and, yes, you can easily modify it so that typing 'movie' would work too).

More Useful Windows PC Help Articles:

✔ What's the easiest way to speed up my Windows PC laptop?

My Dell Windows 7 laptop is starting to drive me crazy. It's so darn slow! I've had it a few years and I...

✔ Can I force a Windows 7 OS system update?

Every so often Windows 7 pops up a window and tells me that there are updates. That's nice, but how can I force...

✔ Fix Google Drive (Gdrive) no longer supported (out of date)?

I'm a big Google fan and have been using Google Drive for quite a while as a cloud storage device. It's a breeze,...

✔ How do I open or unpack a RAR archive on my Windows PC?

I have some ".rar" files on my Windows 8 PC and am curious how to unpack them to see what's inside. From a...

✔ How can I shrink my Windows 8 Desktop file icons?

I've figured out most things in the new Windows 8 interface, except I can't see how to easily reduce or shrink the file...

Let's stay in touch!

Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!

Categorized: Windows PC Help (Article 3942, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged:
Previous: Yahoo Messenger (YIM) transfers: where are they saved?
Next: How do I cancel my America Online (AOL) account?

Reader Comments To Date: 4

Mike said, on April 7, 2005 1:05 AM:

In your article "What are Internet Explorer search prefixes?" FireFox can do all this too and with out any scripts needing to be downloaded and installed!

Tell the world to drop IE and get FireFox.

Dave Taylor said, on April 7, 2005 5:40 AM:

Well, yeah, if people would just wholesale leave the world of MSIE, I think the Web would be a better place and, frankly, we might have a bit less virus and spyware problems. But ...

Howard Needleman said, on June 11, 2007 8:52 PM:

Hi Dave,

When I save a favourite WEB location, at the left hand side of the URL prefix there might be an icon which identifies the WEB site. However,not all WEB sites have this type of identifier. I am running Internet Explorer 7 within Vista Home Premium on a Toshiba Satellite mobile computer.

I have two questions:

1.) Why do these unique icons suddenly transform into the "boring" default Internet Explorer type? Can I prevent it from happening? It is also weird that this happens on my Home Page Tabs intermittently. If I close IE7 and then start it again I usually regain the special identifier icons associated with the unique WEB site such as the one associated with Yahoo! (Y!). The analogy for this icon is one that serves as a trademark.

2.) Can I tell before adding a WEB location to my favourites or adding it to one of my home page tabs whether there should be a unique "trademark" icon?

Your help would be so much appreciated Dave.

Howie

william kaminga said, on July 31, 2008 10:14 AM:

i don't seem to find an ie anywhere, where do i find it? i need to go back to my sbc global .net account as i am paying for it.this will bypass my home phones! asap, thanks again

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

What are Internet Explorer search prefixes?

Reader Comments To Date: 4

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Check This Out Too...