It seems that many larger websites now offer toolbars for quick access to their features, so it was a nobrainer when Google, the most popular search engine out there, released their own toolbar with more than just searching built in
Google’s toolbar installer is pretty standard, but a bit longer than some programs. You have to accept standard terms followed by deciding whether to enable advanced features or not. Google’s sense of humor is slipped in here by asking that you read it carefully because it’s not the usual “Yada Yada”. It is explained the these advanced features can tell you more about the sites you are visiting and explains that it does need to send data back to see what sites your looking at. We will look into this more shortly. You can then choose to set your default search engine. Naturally, they are all Google sites like google.com, google.au, google.es and so on. It also offers to close any Internet Explorer windows that are open before continuing the install. Following installing, Internet Explorer is opened back up for you complete with a start page explaining how to get started and more detailed help on using its features.
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The Google toolbar is pretty easy to use and understand. An option button is clearly placed so that you can customize the look as well as edit or disable other features. It offers a search box to type in searches and quick access to some of its features, adding around 8 icons to the toolbar, including Google news, highlight search words on current page and shortcuts to various different ways to search Google. These can be easily removed in the options if you do not use or want to see them. It also adds an icon for blogger.com. Blogs are weblogs people write, the easiest way to explain it is similar to a personal webpage. Often times, they are free and very easy to use.
The Google toolbar adds in quite a few features to Internet Explorer that should already be included. The first and most noticeable one is the pop-up blocker. The toolbar is worth the download simply for the free pop-up blocker alone. On the first pop-up Google toolbar blocks, a window opens noting that a pop-up has been blocked and fully explains how it works, including how to allow or disallow pop-ups on websites. An icon is on the toolbar counting blocked pop-ups.
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Some of the other options include saving form data to speed up filling in the same information on forms over and over. This information includes your name, address, phone number, country and even credit card information. I prefer to type a lot of that data in myself personally. Once again, a window pops up the first time you can use form filling and explains it thoroughly. One of the other features is page rank, which shows how popular a website is. It’s simply a green bar and does not seem very exact. You can also find similar pages, one of my favorite features. It is not perfect, and often times finds websites that are not similar, or even different pages on the same website you’re on, but it’s considered experimental and usually finds quite a few similar websites.
The Google toolbar is a must have tool for those who insist on using Internet Explorer as is. The download is very small, taking minutes even on dial-up, and it can be easily disabled or uninstalled without causing any problems. If you looked at a few of the screenshots in this review, you already could have downloaded it. I have installed it on countless computers just for the pop-up blocker alone. The additional features added in simply make your web surfing simpler and more enjoyable.
