Enhanced Web Browsing With Toolbars

As the Web grows more crowded and just plain "noisy" withinformation bombarding us from every angle, most peoplewelcome any tool, trick or shortcut to help them wadethrough the mountains of data to find what they want.

Since your web browser represents your main window to theInternet, it makes sense for any tool which enables you tofind what you need and get around faster online should sitright where you need it most.

Introducing Web browser "toolbars," free little programsthat work with Internet Explorer and Netscape to put youseveral steps closer to the information you need right now.

~ Google Toolbar ~
The free toolbar from search giant Google offers the bestsearch features of any toolbar we evaluated.

Not only does it allow you to search the web, but alsoenables you to search within a website to find specificinformation.

The Google toolbar's main features include "Page Rank,"which gives an indication of a website's overall value basedon your search criteria and other factors, along with a"backwards links" function which allows you to see whichsites link to the website currently loaded in your browser.

You can download the Google toolbar on your web browser byvisiting http://toolbar.google.com and following the simpleinstallation instruction.

~ Alexa Toolbar ~
Alexa's main claim to fame revolves around its trafficranking report on virtually any site on the Internet.

The lower the Traffic Ranking number, the more popular asite rates in Alexa's eyes. Currently Yahoo, MSN and Googleoccupy the top 3 spots on Alexa's charts.

With so many websites on the Internet, an Alexa ranking ofless than 100,000 is considered good, and a ranking of lessthan 10,000 is considered outstanding as far as a site'srelative popularity on the Web.

Alexa also offers a related links feature right on thetoolbar so you can quickly find links to sites that otherpeople also visit when surfing the site you currently haveloaded in your browser.

Alexa also offers a pop-up blocker to help cut down on thepop-up windows that seem to invade your desktop the minuteyou venture online. You can download the Alexa Toolbar freefrom www.alexa.com.

~ AltaVista Toolbar ~
Former search giant AltaVista recently jumped on the toolbarbandwagon with their offering from www.altavista.com.

Install the AltaVista toolbar and access a couple ofinteresting features, including a language translationbutton and an MP3 search.

Click the "Translate" button and instantly translate entireweb pages from one language to another.

The MP3 search will help you find the tune you want fromAltaVista's audio index.

Most of the toolbars offer additional gadgets to help youwith everything from weather forecasts to currencyconversion.

Because they offer many of the same features and they takeup valuable screen space, using more than one toolbar at atime often proves impractical.

Since most toolbars come free of charge, evaluate them allfor their main features and overall usability for yourparticular needs and then stick with the best one.

(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved - http://www.thenetreporter.com

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist(http://www.TheNetReporter.com) and is the author ofnumerous best-selling ebooks, information products andsoftware programs.

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