10K Wizard full-text search of SEC documents
No longer free. Allows full-text searching of public documents filed by public companies (companies with shareholders) in the U.S. Search filings by public companies, and even receive E-mail alerts when a certain word or phrase shows up in a filing. Allows easy sorting of results by date or company. Note that the default search is the past 12 months; can be changed to go back several years. Download tables in Excel format.

@Edgar
Used by professionals worldwide, provides real-time SEC Edgar filings and alerts and time saving real-time keyword/phrase searching and alerts. Download filings in RTF, PDF and Excel. A stripped down version of EDGAR (the SEC trademarked search database), though it is important to note that this site is not affiliated with or approved by the SEC.

Ad Critic
All ads, all the time. And they do mean all ads. Collects nearly every TV commercial and makes them available on the Web. Watch Tiger Woods bounce that golf ball. Watch any darn ad you like. Search for ads. Find your favorites. Uses Apple Quick Time.

Annual Reports
Links to thousands of company annual reports online.

AnyWho Toll-Free Internet Directory
A useful tool for finding U.S. companies and saving a dime. Think of other uses: Say a business reporter wants to get reaction from Chrysler dealers to a company change; plug in "Chrysler" and get 51 free numbers for dealers. Click on "advanced search" to

BigBook Yellow Pages
An easy-to-search directory of U.S. businesses by category. Try the detailed search for the option of sorting by name or city.

BigYellow
Claims the largest Yellow Pages database.

Business Wire
Company press releases, by industry.

CenterWatch – Clinical Trials Listing Service™
One kind find information related to clinical trials, such as a listing of more than 41,000 industry- and government-sponsored clinical trials as well as new drug therapies. The trials are listed by medical areas. A “Drug Directory” helps to find “Drugs Currently in Clinical Research”, “Drugs Approved by the FDA” and “New Medical Therapies Weekly Trial Results”. The “Research Center Profile Pages” provide detailed profiles of clinical research centers.

Corporate Crime Reporter
Current news in the sordid world of corporate crime, as well as long, detailed interviews with the big names in prosecution, plus reports and document files.

Corporate Information
Company profiles, research reports, analysis summaries, price and earnings summaries. Also search huge listings of industry, company, country, or state -- free registration required.

Domain Search
Searches for domain names that begin with certain words, in .com, .org, .net, .edu.

Dun & Bradstreet Companies Online
More companies (150,000). Requires you to know the first part of the company name. If you register, for free, you can see annual sales, employee numbers, trade names, parents, etc.

Dun and Bradstreet
Basic company briefs for free; detailed info for a fee.

EDGAR Online
Filings by public companies to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Will send E-mail when new forms are filed by companies you specify. Allows searches by executive's name.

EDGAR Online IPO Glossary
EDGAR Online explains all the nuances and distinctions of those tricky IPO terms.

EdgarIQ.com
Not online anymore, down for an indefinite period of time. For further info. e-mail EdgarIQ@Inverito.com.

FDIC Bank/Thrift Branch Deposit Inquiry
If you know the bank or S&L and are curious how much money is in each branch, try this.

FDIC Institution Directory
Look up a bank or bank holding company, by location or size.

Federal Reserve National Information Center
Now, who owns that bank?

Forbes lists
The Forbes list of richest Americans and world citizens, leading U.S. and international companies, small companies, top CEOs, places, and top athletic moneymakers.

FreeEDGAR
Filings by public companies to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Will send E-mail when new forms are filed by companies you specify.

Full-text search of SEC documents at FreeEDGAR
This useful service allows one to search for any text string in documents that companies file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Limited ability to sort results.

Global Yellow Pages
Links to telephone directories around the world -- residential and business.

GTE SuperPages
More than 11 million businesses. Detailed search form.

Historical Stock Quotes from Yahoo
An easy way to track the day-by-day closing price of shares in the U.S. markets. Enter a stock ticker symbol, starting and ending dates, and the frequency you want (daily, monthly, weekly, or dividends). The resulting list gives you the option of saving a text file (.csv format), which you can open in a spreadsheet. Most charts go back no further than 1970. Data from Commodity Systems Inc.

Hoover's Company Database
The first place on the Web to find a bare-bones profile of a company, especially U.S. companies, if the company is big enough to be in the most visible 50,000. You just need part of the company name. Lists key company info for free.

InfoSpace Yellow Pages
More than 12 million U.S. businesses. Search by name, address, location, telephone number. Has some fax and toll-free numbers. Updated monthly.

Internet Prospector
A directory of state Web sites and Secretaries of State contact information. Links to incorporation records in 12 states and Secretary of State offices in 50 states and D.C.

Legal Research Guide
The site is geared toward lawyers doing research, but has valuable information for anyone needing to navigate the twisted halls of court and legal records. There are articles and tipsheets as well as links to news, records, and databases.

Market Guide
News and financial info on public companies.

National Credit Union Administration
What about credit unions? Search for them here.

OSHA Establishment Search
In case of industrial accident in the U.S., stop here first to see inspections and fines at that worksite. Better yet, take a few minutes to get good at this search before the local plant explodes.

OSHA SIC Search
A broader look at workplace inspections, by industry.

Patent Server from Delphion IBM
Easy search to find people in your area with patents. Or search by type of invention, or words in the description.

PR Newswire
More press releases. If you like that sort of thing. And links to ProfNet, the expert-finding service.

SEC form definitions
A good list of the multitude of SEC forms with definitions, from Edgar Online.

Secretaries of State corporate registrations
Links to the secretary of state in each of the 50 states, and Puerto Rico. These offices all register corporations, and many allow online lookups of basic information. From the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Society of American Archivists

Society of American Archivists
The Society's business archives section has published the "Directory of Corporate Archives in the United States and Canada."

Speech and Transcript Center
Links to speeches by government and corporate executives, TV and radio programs, government transcripts, historical papers. By Gary Price.

Switchboard business search
Search telephone listings by business name, category or location. Not entirely up to date.

ThomasNet
The site for finding companies by using their trademarks and brands. Formerly known as Thomas Register. Can also search for businesses by type of products. A great way to find companies, with address and phone. Or start with a company name to find out what it owns.

U.S. Tax Court
Now you can search for tax cases involving individuals and companies at the U.S. Tax Court. You can look up an individual by name with "docket inquiry," or see newest cases with "today's opinions," or see all the opinions from a particular time frame with "historical opinions." Let's say you want to see all the opinions from a certain month; the asterisk (*) wildcard can be used in the date field; to search for all opinions released in January 2002, enter 01/**/02 in the date field. You can't see the documents online, but you can find a status and attorney's names (click on "parties" when you see a case).

WHOIS
Maybe you can find a person or organization by searching for its Web domain names, such as creator.org or elvisisalive.com. Listings include name, address and E-mail address. Search in the registry of top-level domains (only .com, org., .net). Use just the domain name (yahoo.com), not a full URL (www.yahoo.com or http://www.yahoo.com). Note the help file for other options, including searching by company name.

Yahoo Companies
You might find your company in this list.

Yahoo Yellow Pages
Business listings for U.S. from regional Bells. Was four11.com. Click on the map for your region.

Yahoo! Finance Annual Reports
Annual reports (and quarterly reports) from participating US companies.

ZIP Code Address Server
Give it a U.S. street address (even one that sounds like the real address), and it gives you a full address with ZIP+4 code. Can give you ZIP+4 for a specific firm.

Zip2 Yellow Pages
Yet another. More useful for finding a business near your home in U.S., not easy to do a national search.