Techno-files
Finding long-lost friends now easier, thanks to InternetBy Riley Gay
Have you ever found yourself wondering “Whatever happened to…?” regarding someone from your past? During the course of a lifetime it seems a lot easier to lose track of friends and acquaintances than it is to stay in touch.
Whether it’s a friend from your old neighborhood or someone you knew in high school, unless they’re living on a tropical island somewhere, chances are good they can be found.
If you know where to look, that is.
Ask most modern-day private eyes where they’d start searching for someone and they’re likely to cite the same source: the Internet. With your own computer and an Internet connection you, too, can be a regular Magnum, P.I.
Add a little patience and perseverance and your chances of success will be higher still.
Best of all, most search resources on the Web are free. Even so, if your inquiries don’t turn up the information you need, there are also a number of for-fee sites that will search more extensively to find your missing person.
Most portal sites, such as Excite!, AOL and Netscape offer a basic “white pages” search that will check telephone directories throughout the United States. Some may also let you search for email and Internet addresses.
Of these, Yahoo (PeopleSearch.Yahoo.com) ranks as one of the better places to launch your investigation.
There are also a number of sites on the Internet that specialize in people searches. Along with top-notch search engines, many of these sites feature handy links to other Web resources such as communities, city guides, government sites and more.
They also may offer other ways to search, such as by reverse phone number lookup, Social Security number or other public records.
Specialized search sites such as these include AnyWho.com, InfoSpace.com, Switchboard.com, Bigfoot.com, 411 Locate.com, and WhoWhere.com.
If the person you’re looking for has a website or web address registered to them, you may be able to locate them using either Internet Address Finders (www.iaf.net) or Internic.com (www.internic.com/whois.html).
One other strategy you might try is to do a keyword search, using one of the many website search engines, such as Google.com, Lycos.com or AltaVista.com, to see if your missing person has been mentioned on someone else’s website, such as a news or business site.
The Google site also contains newsgroup archives from the former DejaNews, and will let you search through its database of newsgroup messages.
Or you might try searching the ICQ user directory (www.icq.com) to see if the person you’re looking for is listed with this popular chat service.
Was the person you’re trying to find ever in the military? If so, you might find some information at Militarycity.com.
There are also several services, such as Classmates.com, that rely on a registered database of individuals to bring together friends and acquaintances. If you’re trying to find a former school chum this might be the first place you’ll want to check, on the off chance that they may have registered here.
If all else fails, and you’re willing to pony up a fee to find your missing person, sites such as USAfind.com and ProPeopleSearch.com guarantee to return information based on your search criteria.
Obviously, the more accurate and specific the data supplied by you, the more successful the hunt is likely to be.
So, whether you’re trying to find a lost friend, an old flame, or just looking to update your holiday mailing list, you’re apt to find all the tools you need on your PC and the World Wide Web.
