Search Engine Toolbar Round-up: One-Click Web Searching and Much More Google Toolbar for Firefox Wayne Kawamoto
Whether you rely on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, or another search engine, most major search sites now offer toolbars that can be added to your browser, allowing you to quickly search for keywords from any Web page that you happen to be visiting. And beyond keywords, the toolbars offer specific search options for stock quotes, movies, news, products, and more; provide one-click access to e-mail; highlight search terms on pages so keywords are easy to find; and block pop-up ads. Another plus, the price in all cases, free, is just right.
While search engine toolbars offer a definite convenience, they do come with a potential downside in that they track your site visits. The search toolbars from Google, Yahoo!, and MSN clearly state what they are tracking, but as with anything that is Web-related, buyer beware. That said, let's take a closer look at each of the major alternatives.
Google Toolbar
If you rely only on Google to perform Web searches, it's undoubtedly the toolbar you'll want to add to your browser. In addition to performing familiar
Google-style searches, the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer and the new Google Toolbar for Firefox come with an effective pop-up ad blocker (IE version only) and a handy auto-fill feature that remembers personal information and conveniently enters it into Web forms.
The Google Toolbar is a fast download (under 500KB) that quickly and seamlessly installs in your browser. You can also customize the toolbar by adding and removing buttons and resizing the search text box. During installation, the software gives you the option of tracking or not tracking the sites that you are visiting and clearly states that this option is designed to show more information about a site.
As the name and lineage imply, the toolbar gives you convenient Google-style search capabilities to screen the Web as you would when using Google. You also gain one-click access to Froogle, Google's own shopping service; Google-based news; Usenet groups; dictionary references; and stock quotes. The toolbar also presents ties to Google's Blogger service so you can highlight text on a Web page and send it to your blog post.
The Google toolbar comes with an ad blocker feature that prevents annoying pop-up ads from automatically appearing over, under, or on the Web sites you visit. If you want to see an ad on an individual site, you can, and you also have the option of adding sites with pop-up ads to a personal whitelist in order to view them in the future.
The handy AutoFill feature enters your personal information into Web forms so you don't have to type it in each time — particularly helpful when shopping online. Simply enter your personal information and when AutoFill thinks you need to fill information into a form, it highlights the field and asks permission to enter the data.
The AutoFill not only handles names and addresses, it can also recall and enter credit card numbers. Fortunately, with such important information only a quick click away, the toolbar offers password protection to ensure a degree of privacy from the curious or devious minded.
A clever "up one level" button lets you move from a secondary page of a site and up towards the main home page. While this works on many sites, it often fails on others. A handy Page Info tool lets you cache a Web page to later view it. There's also a feature that translates Web sites into English.
Again, if you use Google to perform searches, there's no reason to go with any other toolbar.
