10 ​Hacks to make the internet ​your bitch:

1. ​​Find webpages ​not intended for public viewing Let me introduce you to the concept of 'google dorks', these are search operators that allow you get specific search results from google. ​With knowledge of these you can extract webpages from the depth of google's database that people ​might not have wanted to share. Let's start with a simple example, the search operator 'site:' returns a list of webpages only on that website. Eg.

​So you can see above the search 'site:digitizd.com' returns a list of webpages that exist only on this website. ​FYI search operators can get very complex so here is a list of all of them. I will fast forward to a super cool example of an advanced google dork.

​The google search above returns either excel sheets or PDFs that have the word confidential in them that exist on a .gov website. SUPER COOL right! Have fun, and don't blame me if the FBI come knocking on your door!



​2. Skip paywalls and other annoying pop ups with the inspect element tool The inspect element tool has lots of functions, but today I will teach you how to get rid of annoying pop ups like paywalls (only accessible on desktop). Whenever you are faced with a popup that you cannot get past without signing up simply right click and select inspect element from the drop down menu. A new window will pop up, the very top left corner is a little arrow icon (highlighted in red below). Click on this and you can use it to select elements on webpage. Use it to select the popup that is obstructing your view, this will highlight the location of HTML code, then you can right click on that code and select delete element. This will remove the pop up from your webpage ​allowing you to browse as normal. ​ Image below shows instructions. Enjoy reading content for free.



​3. Reveal a hidden password with the inspect element tool If you're faced with a log in screen that has your password auto filled but you have no option to view the password, don't worry, we have you covered. Again start with a right click and open the inspect element window. Again use the arrow icon function from the top left corner to select the hidden password. Then simply ​find the input type="password" field and replace the word 'password' with the word 'text' and ​voila, the password will be revealed in plain text. The image below shows what the inspect element window will look like.



​4. Reverse image search with Google ​Did you know that you can search the entire internet to see if an image exists anywhere else. While on your computer simply hold down S and then right click on the image. This will open a new tab and reverse search that image. Here is an example using the image above (google even fills in ​what they think the image is about) :



​5. See a webpage in mobile view while on desktop While on your computer you can view a webpage in mobile view by simply clicking F12. You can even select the different types of devices.



​6. Use Chrome as a notepad ​You can use Chrome as a notepad by entering 'data:text/html, <html contenteditable>' into the address bar.

​7. See all the information Facebook has ​stored about you Check how Facebook is tracking you across all the internet. Visit https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity and see exactly what websites and apps Facebook know you visited broken down by date. ​Facebook allow advertisers to use this tracking to target you with more relevant ads. You can use this page to clear your history on Facebook.



​8. Make your own custom search engine powered by Google ​Google have a platform that allows you to make your own search engine, you can start by visiting cse.google.com. You can customize it any way you like, you start by defining the websites you want to allow in your search engine. ​I am not sure exactly who google intended it for but what is cool is you can earn money if people click on ads when using your custom search engine. ​​You could use it to show your friends a fake result or create a family friendly search for your kids, it has loads of uses. Below is the custom search engine I made which will only show results from digitizd.com. Try it out (I will not earn money if you click on ads).

​9. View what a website looked like at anytime in history A free service called Wayback Machine which is found on archive.org goes through the internet and takes screenshot of websites, the bot follows links from webpage to webpage so the more links a website has the more screenshots it has. Below is an example of what google.com looked like in 1999.



​10. See a website without visiting it (in case it has been hacked or to by pass a security system) When viewing google results simply click the small arrow at the end of the URL and then click on 'cached'.

