How come when I type the world "google" in my browser it goes to google.com. Remember I am not typing in google.com but just "google". This happens with many other words if you just type them in without the .com it still goes to a web page? What determines which website it goes to?
Thats a good question. Are you using firefox? I think it might go to the first result for that keyword in google search, but i'm just guessing, sometimes it just goes to a google search page...
I think it's because any related specific word for that word is automatically displayed by the database.
You've installed some kind of program (could be adware or spyware) that automatically redirects names of websites to the real websites. For example, if you type yahoo it'll redirect you to yahoo.com - and so on. This option even exists in Google Toolbar: "Google Toolbar lets you type in names instead of URLs! Free Install"
Umm actually its not spyware, adware or any other ware of that kind. its basic browser function. When you only type the domain and leave the TLD, browser starts searching for the DNS by appending http:// in front and .com as the tail. if it finds the site, it opens it for you, if it doesnt then it continues searching for .net then .org and all the extention in its database... If it doesnt find any site with any TLD and you have addressbar search enable, it will pick your preferred SE and search for the keyword, but if you dont have it enabled then it will display the error msg.
I think is because of Google toolbar : I tested on IE7 and Firefox with Google Toolbar and the result is the same.