Windows XP Hacks

Better Internet Searching from Your Desktop

Internet Explorer’s default search features are anemic at best. Do better Internet searching by installing a Google Toolbar and other specialized search toolbars and powering up the default search.

Was there ever a Web before Google? Yes, but it was a heck of a lot harder to find anything in it. Internet Explorer’s default search feature leaves a lot to be desired, not the least of which is its use of MSN Search instead of Google. But there’s a lot you can do to do better Internet searching from your desktop. You can get search toolbars that integrate into your browser, and you can customize the Internet Explorer search feature as well.

Google Toolbar

The best way to empower Internet searches is by installing special toolbars from two popular search engines, Google and Ask Jeeves. The Google Toolbar is the better of the two, and not only because it’s a better search engine. It also has several extra features.

The great thing about the Google Toolbar is, well, that it’s Google. It gives you all of Google’s functionality without even having to visit the site. To get the Google Toolbar for IE, go to http://toolbar.google.com and follow the installation instructions. It works only with Internet Explorer. Once you install it, you’ll be able to search Google without having to visit the search site; just type your search term in the toolbar. In fact, you even get an extra on the toolbar that you don’t get on Google itself—the PageRank feature ...