Lowell
Oct 18, 20232 min
Source: https://www.makeuseof.com/duckduckgo-features-simplify-daily-tasks/
DuckDuckGo (DDG) is an Internet search company offering secure browsing. They pride themselves on preserving your privacy. There are many other features DDG provides. Some of these examples may also work with other search engines. Do not type the quotes shown in the examples below. They are for clarity only.
Find Definitions: For example. type “define humble” and you'll see the definition at the top of the results page.
Convert Units: Type “convert 3 feet to meters” and you'll see .9144 as the result.
Generate a Password: Type “password 16” and a 16 character password is provided. Special characters do not seem supported—only letters and numbers.
Expand Shortened Web Addresses: Sometimes you may receive a shortened website address that looks like a jumble of cryptic characters. These can be dangerous because you cannot tell what site you'll go to if you click the link. Instead, try right-clicking the link and then Copy. In DDG, type “expand “ and paste the link. You will see the “real” link and maybe determine if it’s safe.
Bangs: Bangs (!) are search shortcuts. For example, “!yt” is a shortcut for YouTube. Typing “!yt woodworking” (no quotes) lists YouTube woodworking videos - quicker than navigating to YouTube and searching for woodworking. Bangs also work in Google and probably in other browsers too. Here's a link to search for valid DDG bangs - https://duckduckgo.com/bangs.
Summary
Google probably returns more search results than DDG, but may not offer the same level of privacy.
You can probably set DDG as the default search engine in your browser’s Settings. If you don’t want to change your default search engine, you can always type duckduckgo.com into your browser’s address bar.
There is a DDG app for Apple devices, Windows computers, and probably Android devices too.