Before you ask...

nowadays everyone thinks they know how to use google (pretty much in the same way people assume they know how to use Windows... sigh)

For a lot (most?) of things it works fine by entering a few words (although it helps to know which words you shouldn't put on your search), but sometimes is not so easy to find the stuff, that's when you need to use your google search skills, at minimum you need to know these ones:

- intitle:
- link:
- site:
- intext:
- inanchor:
- inurl:
- filetype:
- define:
- using quotes
- using wildcards
- using OR, AND
- using -
- using ranges

If you don't know how to use all the "commands" on this list, you are missing a lot.
There are many other interesting tools built right into google.com, like:

- calculator
- conversions
- UPS, Fed Ex, USPS tracking information
- VIN information
- movies
- etc, etc, etc

check this page for a very complete list of things you can do with google, included all of the items in my list