toolbars

Net Usage Item is a free Firefox add-on that tracks Internet usage and displays it in Firefox's interface as a percentage and a progress bar. It can help users carefully monitor their access time or bandwidth, which can be critical to avoiding fees and penalties for exceeding your quota or subscription. The only trouble with it is that it probably doesn't support your ISP or even your country, unless you live in Australia, New Zealand, India, Belgium, Canada, Portugal, Poland, or Ukraine. Many Internet users enjoy unlimited access or even broadband and don't need to keep tabs … Read more

Do you find yourself constantly flipping back and forth between Facebook and whatever it is you're supposed to be doing? In about as much time as it takes to say, "There has got to be a better way," you can download and install Facebook Toolbar from MSBit. This free Firefox add-on places a new toolbar in your browser that contains everything you need right at the top of whatever browser window you're in.

We installed the Facebook Toolbar and restarted Firefox, and then opened the add-on manager to view Facebook Toolbar's options. These involve selecting … Read more

Though Google Toolbar 7 for Firefox launched several months ago, the Internet Explorer version (download) went live just this week. It brings Google Instant to the popular toolbar, along with more robust privacy options and a cleaner interface.

Although the support for Google Instant search is the most notable feature improvement in version 7, what appears most interesting is the way that the toolbar lets you know that features like Instant, which require tracking to work, actually do track you. While this might not be news to some, it's a strong reminder that many of the data-rich features that … Read more

With all the talk lately about working in the cloud, you might think desktop applications were about to go the way of the dot-matrix printer. In fact, running our everyday apps off the desktop remains the norm, especially in organizations. And considering the slow pace of technology change at most companies, the norm isn't likely to change anytime soon.

Still, there's no denying the long-term trend toward Web-hosted applications and storage. Facilitating the transition from local to remote apps is Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, a toolbar that adds a Sync button to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint … Read more

Microsoft has cooked up a new version of its Bing software toolbar that the company thinks can change the minds of toolbar haters.

"I know what you're saying to yourself--'really, a tool bar?'" Bing Director Stefan Weitz joked to me in an interview last week. Weitz mused that when he had first heard the pitch about it, his first response had been "are we doing dial-up too?"

But Weitz was pleasantly surprised with the results of the new version of the software, and so were the testers who tried it during the new version'… Read more

After noticing curious search results at Bing, then running a sting operation to investigate further, Google has concluded that Microsoft is copying Google search results into its own search engine.

That's the report from Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan today, who talked to both companies about it and presented Google's evidence. According to the report, a mechanism could be the Suggested Sites feature of Internet Explorer and the Bing Toolbar for browsers, both of which can gather data about what links people click when running searches.

The story began with Google's team for correcting typographical errors … Read more

Until 2005, Google Toolbar was available only for Internet Explorer, leaving Firefox users--then a small minority--out in the cold. Googlebar was an attempt to fill that void, offering Firefox users a very similar toolbar that contained access to Google's search services and other features. Once Google released a version of Google Toolbar for Firefox, however, Googlebar lost its raison d'être. The last version of Googlebar was released in 2005; we presume that the developers saw no reason to continue with it once Google Toolbar became available. It's still not bad, especially for five-year-old technology, but Google … Read more

Add-ons to Web browsers are exceptionally popular, but sometimes can result in features being tacked onto the brower's interface that can be annoying at best if they're not used. Many times these add-ons are simple drag-and-drop plugins that can be removed from the various Internet Plug-Ins folders in either the global or user libraries, but at other times the add-ons may use alternative means of loading, which can make removing them less straightforward.

One of these is the Community Toolbar, which is developed by "Conduit" and may be customized by other developers for specific purposes and … Read more

The default appearance of Firefox is pleasant enough, but sometimes customizations are nice, too. Now you can reflect your Christian faith in Firefox with Bible Fox Blue. This browser extension changes some of the browser's button icons to religious images. The extension doesn't do a whole lot, but it's a nice choice if you'd like to add some visual reminders of Christianity to your Web browsing experience.

The extension installs without issues, although it will make Bing your default search engine unless you opt out. Once we had installed it and restarted Firefox, the changes were … Read more