The Next Small Thing
By Tara Calishain
March 2, 2004
Going to a search engine site to look up information is so 20th century. Why not use a search toolbar instead? These little additions to your browser put a wealth of search options at your fingertips, and they make searching quick and easy. One caveat: Most of the toolbars require ActiveX, so you'll have to make sure your browser and firewall allow it. And most toolbars work only in Internet Explorer. But if you don't use IE, don't worry; we've got a couple of options for you, too.
Google Toolbars
Google's official toolbar is available at http://toolbar.google.com/. You'll be asked to pick a language, and then you can download the toolbar. When you install the toolbar, you'll have to agree to both the terms of use and to the toolbar's feature set. Advanced functions require that information about the site you're browsing be sent to Google. You can disable the functions during the installation process if you're concerned about your privacy.
Once you've installed the toolbar, you'll find a bunch of useful tools. You can search Google, of course. You can also block pop-ups or fill in forms with one click. As you visit sites, the Google ToolBar shows the PageRank calculated by Google for each page, giving you an idea of how popular it is.
If you don't use IE you can still get great Google functionality, thanks to a couple of IE-independent toolbar projects. Check out Googlebar (http://googlebar.mozdev.org) if you use Mozilla or Netscape. Be sure Software Installation is enabled (Preferences | Advanced | Software Installation), or the installation won't work.
If you've used the "official" version of Google's toolbar with IE, Googlebar will look familiar. In fact, it can provide all the information the official version can except PageRank. You can use the I'm Feeling Lucky function, search Google's regular services (Google Groups, News, Directory, Catalogs, and so on) as well as the specialty searches (such as U.S. Government or Microsoft).
Another terrific option works with just about any browser. GGSearch (www.frysianfools.com/ggsearch) isn't a toolbar; it runs as a small application that you launch independent of your browser. When you enter a search term, a Google results page opens in your browser.
You can search several Google properties, including news, groups, images, and stocks. And you can choose options such as the relevance filter, safe search, and the time period to use for the search. Unless you use IE, choose the Enable custom browser option, because otherwise the default browser (usually IE) will open with the results.
Other Search Toolbars
Of course, Google isn't the only search engine, and others also offer toolbars.
You can download the Teoma toolbar at http://sp.ask.com/docs/teoma/ toolbar . The default install puts three items on the toolbar: a query box, a Highlight button, and a button for e-mailing a page to a friend. The query box works as you'd expect. Enter a search term and you get a Teoma page full of results. Hit the Highlight key in the toolbar and all the query terms on the page are highlighted instantly. If you click on the Email this Page to A Friend option, you'll get a pop-up box that you can use to send the title and URL of a page to an e-mail address. (Be aware, though, that pop-up blockers like the one on Google's toolbar may prevent the box from appearing.) Clicking on the Teoma button at the left of the toolbar lets you add the Search Dictionary button, and you can also change highlight colors and button styles.
The default installation of the Ask Jeeves toolbar (http://sp.ask.com/docs/toolbar/) shows a few options such as the query box, highlight tool, and news search. Click on the Ask Jeeves logo and you can add buttons such as AJ Kids, Dictionary, Stocks, and Weather. The coolest option is the Zoom button, which lets you shrink the size of the Web page you're viewing so you can print it on fewer pages.
You can download AltaVista's toolbar at www.altavista.com/toolbar/default. Default buttons include an Information lookup button (for currency conversions, a dictionary, ZIP and area codes, and so forth) a translation tool, and a pop-up blocker. Additional buttons (accessible by clicking on the AltaVista icon and choosing Add/Remove Buttons from the menu) include individual lookup buttons for many of the reference items as well as for many AltaVista properties (including news, images, and so on.)
If you want to do all your searching in one place, try the metasearch engine Dogpile's toolbar (www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/tbar). Besides returning quick results from the top search engines, the toolbar gives you a news ticker, local weather, and Dogpile's Cursor Search, which lets you select any word or phrase on a page and then right-click to search.
Adding a toolbar can save you lots of time and make your searches easier. Adding a few—if you can handle the clutter—puts a variety of cool options right where you need them.
fr.: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1523364,00.asp
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