It’s hard to imagine what the internet would be like without Google. The search engine certainly wasn’t the first, but it beat rivals like AskJeeves, Yahoo, and Bing to become the largest search engine when it came online in 1998, and has since become so popular that the term “Google it” has become Whatever platform you choose, it’s synonymous with the search web.
With its own success, the search engine has also spawned dedicated web browsers, mobile phones, smart home systems, and a host of online productivity tools, and if you know where to look, there are plenty of interesting secrets waiting to be discovered.
We’ve covered some of these in our list of the top 5 things you can do with Google Maps, but that’s just scratching the surface. While some of these lesser-known features are really useful, others are little more than humorous gimmicks to keep us entertained, so if you want to see what tricks you can achieve with Google and Google Chrome OS, read on.
1. Check for dangerous malware
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
If you use Google Chrome as your private web browser, then you may sometimes notice a little sluggish performance, or you may accidentally click on some suspicious links. To put your mind at ease, Chrome actually has its own built-in malware scanner that you can use to clean up any potential malware that might be lurking on your system.
To find it, just open the Chrome browser and go to settings by selecting the drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the page. From there, find the Advanced section on the left, and click Reset and Cleanup, which will open a section with two new options.
By selecting “Clean Computer”, your system will be checked for any harmful software, and if you become aware of sending your system data to a large corporation, you can opt out of sending Google a digital report on its findings.
2. Find really cheap flights
(Image credit: Google)
OK, so the flight option isn’t completely hidden, but it does feel a little overlooked. Many of us have a go-to website or service that promises to find cheap flights, like Expedia, Kayak, or Skyscanner, but if you’re adventurous (or just need to escape reality in any necessary way for a while), then Google Flights It might actually be a better option for you.
Just go to the Explore tab on Google Flights and enter the airport or city you’re departing from. Leave the destination blank, then select either box that displays departure and return dates. This will then allow you to switch from a specific date to a flexible date, where you can select an entire month as a search window, or even a time frame, such as a one-week return trip within the next six months.
You need to have this flexibility, but the results of this search will give you the cheapest flights to multiple destinations, which should give you some options that may have previously been out of your budget.
You can even add other filters to your search on top of this, including direct or non-direct flights, specific airlines, how much luggage you’ll be carrying, set price limits, and even prioritize location outings based on activities you want to try , such as skiing, visiting a museum, or relaxing on the beach.
3. Reverse Image Search
(Image credit: Shutterstock/rogistok)
It’s really frustrating when you find unauthorized images that require some extra information. Maybe a model or influencer has sold out wearing some shoes you want to buy yourself, or maybe you want to find the original artist from a watermark-free illustration.
Fortunately, Google can save you some time and frustration by allowing you to search use That image, then not only launches every instance of the exact same image published elsewhere on the web, but also launches a similar image if it doesn’t return many results. On Google Images, select the camera icon on the search bar and two options will appear, one is to search using the URL of the image, the other is to upload the image directly to search from your system.
I personally find this feature particularly useful for finding the original source of an image and for finding the names of items like perfumes and vintage accessories, otherwise I would manually search for vague phrases like “old heart designer lipstick”, usually with a mix of success.
You can also use it as a safety feature if you believe your image is being used online, or if you suspect someone you’re chatting with on a dating site may be using someone else’s photo to spoof you. when are you alive.
4. Play video and audio files
(Image credit: Acer)
I miss the old Windows media player like the best of us, but I doubt now Google web browser can play all my media for me. If you have any audio or video files you want to watch, just drag them directly onto a new tab in Google Chrome and they’ll start playing in that window.
It’s a bit basic, so you won’t be using it to make any edits or major changes to your files, but it’s an easy-to-use player if you just need something that can play, rewind, and adjust volume without opening dedicated media.
5. Take you back in time
(Image credit: Google)
It’s of no practical use at all, but for those of us who remember the internet in the late 1990s, it’s certainly fun and a little nostalgic. Open the Google search engine and type “Google in 1998,” and instead of loading a new search results page, the entire window will look like the home page of Google when it first launched.
It’s funny, but sadly when you realize that if you select anything on the page, the page will revert to its modern form (although there’s a dedicated button that says ‘Take me back to the present’). If Google could pop up some Archived search results from the late ’90s to explore, it would be nice to make this feature live a little longer.
The tech giant has come a long way over the past 23 years, and there are far more than five overlooked features that could use some extra recognition. There’s no doubt that Google is currently working on a lot more fun and usefulness for us to stumble upon over the next few years, but there’s still a lot to do. If you’re bored, try typing phrases like “bucket” or “skew” for a few minutes of mindless entertainment – thanks to Google.