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Google Toolbar
Price: Free

Overall

Reviewed By: Andy Shaw

This review updated: 15/03/2004
Featured in magazine:
Issue 67, page 38
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Google
Web Address: http://toolbar.google.com


The Google Toolbar is probably the most famous of all toolbars, not least because of its association with the web's favourite search engine. The bar can work in two different ways, one of which sends information about your browsing back to Google, so it's worth reading the small print when you install it. These browsing habits are kept on an anonymous level and allow the toolbar to provide information about the site you're browsing, such as how Google ranks it, who links to it and much more. This is of more interest to web masters than the general public, though any nosey parker will probably enjoy poking around the functions.

If you don't want Google to know where you've been, you can still use the toolbar for its two primary functions - searching the web and stopping pop-ups. The search function allows all the things you'd usually experience from heading over to Google without having to type in the address or click on a favourite. Instead, just type in your search and click on the drop-down menu if you want to use Google's other options, like the directory, image search or newsgroup archive.

The pop-up stopper is a particularly handy feature, taking out all those irritating ads that litter the web, especially if you're prone to browsing amateur sites hosted on free servers that are funded by advertising. Just in case you use sites that require pop-ups for security purposes, such as a banking site, you can configure the toolbar to react to specific addresses and let the pop-up through if necessary. There's also an AutoFill button for people who regularly purchase goods or fill out surveys, which will automatically input regularly requested information like your name, email address and postcode. Users of Google's Blogger software will also find benefit in the button that will link a given website straight into their blog.

The biggest drawback with the Google Toolbar is that it only searches Google. However, its extra functions have taken it beyond the scope of a regular search engine toolbar and lifted into the realms of the genuinely useful.

More Search Software reviews:

• Google Desktop
• Copernic Desktop Search 2
• Windows Search 4.0 Preview
• Ask Desktop Search
• Agent Ransack