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Google Toolbar
Price: Free

Basic features
Extensions/add ons
Ease of use
Time-saving features
Overall

Reviewed By: Roland Waddilove

This review updated: 18/01/2007
Featured in magazine:
Issue 153
Manufacturer Contacts:
Web Address: http://toolbar.google.com


What we liked:
The best thing about Google Toolbar is that while it contains Google-specific features, it isn't plagued by the same narrow range of tools that hampers Windows Live or Yahoo. So even if you not a Google services fan, you'll still find lots of useful functions.

The toolbar is smarter than the standard search because a drop-down list of search suggestions is displayed as you type. For example, if you type Manchester into the search box a drop-down list containing Manchester hotels, Manchester United, Marchester airport' appears. Plus you can use the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' option by clicking on the four-leaf clover icon.

Your search terms can be highlighted on the results page and when you click a link the search terms are still highlighted. This is useful as it sometimes isn't immediately obvious where the term is on a long page.

An automatic form-filling feature is included. Just enter your name, email address, phone number, home address and credit card number and when a web apage containing a form is detected, AutoFill will enter your details with a click of the mouse. There's also a spellcheck for the form fields that offers alternatives for misspellings in a drop-down list.

All the best toolbars are customisable and Google's is no exception. Buttons can be added to access Google Mail, Google Calendar, Google Video, and Google Finance. What's more, there's an online gallery (http://toolbar.google.com/buttons/gallery?hl=en-GB) containing a large number of additional buttons that people have created. Excellent.

The existing buttons are handy, too. The Page Rank button has a small green bar to show a page's popularity rating, and a drop-down menu lets you find similar pages and pages that link to it. The Bookmarks button accesses Google bookmarks, a facility that lets you open your favourite websites from any PC.

How it can be improved:
The facility to find addresses on a web page and view the location on a map should be extended to the UK - it's currently US only. It would be useful if it was possible to specify a U K spelling dictionary, because currently the spellchecker accepts both US and UK spellings, so it won't pick up certain spelling mistakes like 'color'. Lastly, there simply isn't enough space to see all the buttons so an option to show two rows would be useful.

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