Google: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6. The Google Toolbar

It’s a fact: Google is fast. But if you have to pull up its home page every time you run a search, you’re wasting valuable seconds. True pros use Google from a toolbar you can install directly in your browser, and from the Google deskbar, which sits in the corner of your screen and lets you run a search without even opening your browser. This chapter covers the must-have toolbar; Chapter 7 covers the deskbar and a batch of other efficiency features and tricks.

The Google Toolbar: Search Faster

The Google toolbar, shown in Figure 6-1, can change your life. Easy to download and install, it sits at the top of your browser and lets you run a search without opening Google’s home page. Simply type your search words into the blank search box, press Enter or click Search Web, and your browser takes you directly to the page of Google search results. No muss, no fuss.

But wait—there’s more! The toolbar also lets you search a single site and run special Google searches (like News or Directory) without going to those pages first. And it adds some browser-type features that are more about surfing than searching: things like blocking pop-up windows, automatically filling in forms with your name and address, and a mess of other cool stuff.

If you take just one thing from this book, then, make it the Google toolbar.

The catch is that Google’s toolbar requires Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, or XP, and Internet Explorer 5.0 or later (to use the pop-up blocker, make ...