toolbars

Google has launched a new option for site owners using its Friend Connect service. Besides the usual friends and discussion widgets, sites can now have a "social bar" which can sit atop, or at the bottom of their page. This facilitates user log-ins, as well as letting you get a quick view at the latest activity including members who have signed in and comments they've left.

Google is pushing the new bar as an alternative to putting some of the other Friend Connect page elements on your site. For instance, having this installed without the other widgets … Read more

Combine Web browsing with finding shopping deals and collecting coupons for bargains. This toolbar brings it all together.

The AAfter Toolbar installs quickly and easily. Its not the best design we've seen for a toolbar, and it takes up more viewing real estate than seems necessary, but its not as cluttered with buttons as many other toolbars. We like that it doesn't try to be all things to all surfers. Instead, it focuses on its search engine and shopping deals.

The toolbar performed well in all our tests, quickly returning search results and responding quickly when we clicked … Read more

The Cash Point toolbar installs an attractively designed bar along the top of your Internet Explorer window--a nice change from many garishly designed toolbars that try to provide something for everyone. The arrangement of tools--search field, weather data, Internet radio tuner, e-mail notifier, and a drop-down list of links--isn't cluttered or too tightly packed. Still, appearance isn't everything.

In our tests, this free toolbar loaded fine, but after about five minutes of use, we received a "This toolbar is corrupted and must close" message. It would load OK in subsequent sessions, but was annoying nonetheless. We … Read more

Judging by this plug-in's name, we imagined a toolbar that would give you one-click access to all things iTunes. While it did offer a few helpful resources and gadgets, we weren't overly impressed by its offerings.

iTunes Downloads Toolbar for Internet Explorer has a drop-down menu for iTunes Resources, including links that take you directly to the Apple Web site for accessories and support. The iTunes Store button again took us to the Apple site. The iTunes RSS had no activity whatsoever, and we couldn't get the radio to work for us either. We did like the … Read more

Fans of Diigo will appreciate the instant access and extras found in the Diigo Toolbar. It has all you need to utilize and stay connected to your account.

Diigo Toolbar lets you sign into your account from a drop-down menu, giving you access to the straightforward buttons. You won't find standard toolbar features, such as a pop-up blocker or weather forecast, but you can opt to remove some of the toolbar buttons or add a few advanced features, such as a filter or keyboard shortcuts. Though a Help feature is included on the Diigo site, we didn't need … Read more

This free Firefox add-on keeps you a mouse-click away from tor-proxy.net, a Web site that lets you browse anonymously by hiding your IP address. It works, but the trade-off in speed is noticeable.

Tor-Proxy.NET Toolbar doesn't have typical toolbar features, such as e-mail notification, and a weather forecast, and there's a lot of wasted space, but you can easily hide the toolbar. A shortcut button on the toolbar takes you directly to tor-proxy.net. There also is a place to enter a URL, and two proxy options: JAP/JonDos and TOR. During our tests, we entered … Read more

Updated 2:56 p.m. PST with further details.

SAN FRANCISCO--After months of preamble, Yahoo on Monday flipped the on switch for a massive project to increase activity--and advertising--on its Internet sites through social connections and online applications.

The company has been working mostly behind the scenes to build what it calls the Yahoo Open Strategy, but now the strategy's changes will become evident to U.S. users of some of Yahoo's main properties such as Yahoo Mail, My Yahoo, and Yahoo's music and TV sites. In addition, the company will begin previewing a new Yahoo Toolbar … Read more

StumbleUpon wears a lot of hats: random Web site surfer, social networker, social bookmarker, site reviewer. It's a powerful little add-on for Firefox and Internet Explorer.

One click is all it takes to get going with this toolbar, which encourages random discovery on the Internet based on your interests. The "Stumble!" logo whips you around the Net, but at the your pace, based on categories you choose during installation. Hundreds of topics are available and can be updated at will, with no selection limit. Other StumbleUpon functions are just as user-friendly. A click on the toolbar's &… Read more

Usually when I get news about Sun Microsystems and Microsoft working together, it is some highly technical enterprise collaboration stemming from their lawsuit settlement a few years back.

On Monday, though, the companies announced something in the consumer arena. Sun will start distributing the MSN toolbar to Internet Explorer users when they download Sun's Java Runtime Environment.

The companies said that Sun's Java runtime is downloaded tens of millions of times per month.

"This agreement with Sun Microsystems is another important milestone in our strategy to secure broad-scale distribution for our search offering, enabling millions more people … Read more