tools

This simple tool allows users to enable and disable Flash animation while browsing the Web, but it offered mixed results when we put it to the test.

One you download Toggle Flash, you may have to manually add the button to your toolbar. As we browsed through various sites containing Flash animation, we clicked the tiny red button, but it was impossible to determine whether the program was enabled or disabled. Hovering our mouse over the button didn't offer us any indication. A change in button color once enabled (e.g., red to green) would definitely help the problem. … Read more

The publisher of this utility claims that you can save any flash file with one click of the mouse. After testing it for ourselves, we had to make sure they were referring to the same program we tested, because we couldn't get it work at all.

Flashgrabber had an extremely confusing user interface that was half in German and half in English. It contained a blank, white window at the top, and a window at the bottom for displaying flash files in the browser cache. Not knowing where to go next, we clicked on the Help file, only to … Read more

This free, affiliate-marketing-themed toolbar offers a few helpful Web site links, but beyond that, it doesn't offer users anything different from the hundreds of other toolbars out there.

The toolbar offers all the basics: pop-up blocker, e-mail notification, weather forecast, and the ability to customize the interface by adding and removing buttons for your favorite applications and gadgets. The radio feature played without a glitch, and we were able to add our own stations to an already long list of stations. The one differentiating feature on this toolbar is the drop-down menu of links to various affiliate marketing sites, … Read more

Besides a really bad name and a few home-based business links, Multiplestreamsofprofit_toolbar.exe doesn't offer users anything that stands out from the thousands of other toolbars out there.

Multiplestreamsofprofit_toolbar.exe offers all the basics: pop-up blocker, e-mail notification, weather forecast, and the ability to customize the interface by adding and removing buttons for your favorite applications and gadgets. We will say that the radio played without a glitch, and we were able to add our own stations to an already long list of stations, but a functioning radio isn't enough to make this toolbar stand out. The one … Read more

This free, poker-inspired toolbar is one of the blandest we've seen. It fails to offer users even the most basic of toolbar features.

Mega-Poker.Net Toolbar offers a plain user interface that stretches across your browser window. A large button with what appears to be the toolbar name (you'll need a magnifying glass to read it), features a drop-down menu with options to customize the interface. But don't get too excited; you can only change the toolbar color or remove the default buttons that you don't want. You can't add your favorite applications or gadgets, … Read more

As its tongue-in-cheek name implies, this free toolbar is for users who want or need to clear their browsing tracks. While we would have liked to have seen more customization options, Perv Bar's solid performance more than made up for it lack of extras.

Perv Bar fits a very slim toolbar into your IE window. It contains a search field, and a button to block pop-ups, which worked each and every time. The Privacy Utility button is where it's at, with options to clear not only your browsing history, recycle bin, and cookies, but also to clear your … Read more

Multifunction apps are great, but they often include features you don't need, or they poorly implement ones you do. ALToolbar at least, doesn't suffer from the latter--it is a well put-together little package, from the standpoint of appearance and ease of use.

The included functions work well, generally, and are easily accessed through the toolbar added to Internet Explorer. However, the Search and Internet Cleaner functions don't offer much beyond those built into IE7, while the Capture tool has some nice, but fairly common, features. The single point of failure for this application is the ALPass and … Read more

As its name suggests, SitePopularity is a program that allows users to check a specific Web site's ranking using top ranking systems. It comes with two trial restrictions, but we found that it still managed to perform well during our tests.

The user interface is extremely easy to navigate. Large, self-explanatory command buttons reside at the top of the window, and URLs are listed in the main window, along with their ranking among such ranking sites as Google Pagerank, Alexa Traffic Rank, and Altavista. Novices will especially appreciate the wizard that walks you through the process of entering the … Read more

Although it delivers information from some of the most well-known sources to gauge link popularity, the interface design makes it a bit awkward to see all the info provided. And Link Popularity Checker only exports information in .CSV format.

Link Popularity Checker's interface is professionally designed, but the ads and links to increase site traffic hint at this free tool's true purpose. It is easy to navigate, even with no Help file in sight. Command buttons line the top of the interface and allow you to quickly add URLs, get data, and export it. The final of the … Read more