Digital Bear Consulting 

Those without Toolbars:

• AEIWI
• All the Web
• AOL
• dmoz
• Excite
• Ixquick
• Looksmart
• Lycos
• Qango
• Web Wombat
• WebBrain
• WiseNut

Make sure you stay up to date. Select one of the magazines below for more information.

Search Engine Tool Bars

These are great enhancements for your browser as they provide easy access to your favorite search engine. (See our list of search engines.) While they all assist you in initiating your search, they also offer a variety of other tools.

The majority of these toolbars are browser plug-ins; third-party software enhancements to a software application (Learn More About Plug-ins). Some of these toolbars will report your activities back to the search engine company. While you can usually turn this "feature" off (and we think you should), remember that everything you do on the Internet tells others something about your system. (See what we know about you.) Always read the fine print! Our last warning is that some toolbars provide a news or stock ticker. Be aware that this creates a continuous feed of information to your system and my violate your company's usage policy.

We have listed the browser and system requirements for each toolbar. In general, if you have Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher and Windows 98 or higher, you can install any of these toolbars.

This information on this page was last verified on 13 March 2004.

Alta Vista Toolbar

Alta Vista includes a pop-up blocker to get rid of the ads. Their Babel Fish translator will translate the words in the search box into another language, a must have for comprehensive research across the web. Their highlight button will show you where your search terms can be found on the visited pages. (Tip: If you enter words in the search box and hit the highlight button without pressing the [Enter] key, the words will be highlighted on any page whether you found it with Alta Vista or not.) There are over ten different types of search buttons you can turn on including Search the U.S. Web, Site Search, Image Search, News Search, Video Search, MP3/Audio Search, Area Code Search, Conversion Search, Dictionary Search, Global Time Search, Weather Search, and ZIP Code Search. That should keep anyone busy.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95 or higher.
Where to Get It: http://www.altavista.com/toolbar/

Ask Jeeves Toolbar

The zoom button permits you to increase or decrease the size of the page, assuming you are using IE 5.5 or higher. (Tip: Set the zoom to 75% and you'll be able to print most pages onto a single sheet of paper.) The highlight button will use a different color for up to six search terms to show you the terms on a web page. If you regularly like to tell your friends about a web page you've discovered, you'll appreciate the Email This Page button. Their tool bar blocks pop-up ads, but you'll need at least IE 5.1 for full functionality. Aside from regular searches, you may search News, Dictionary, Weather, Stocks, Products and Pictures.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, but you'll need IE 5.5 or higher for full functionality.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP.
Where to Get It: http://sp.ask.com/docs/toolbar/

Dogpile Toolbar

Dogpile offers a pop-up and pop-under ad blocker, the ability to search any word found on a web page by right-clicking it with your mouse and the highlighting of your search terms on discovered pages. The right-click search can also be used to initiate a dictionary search for the word. You also get White Pages and Yellow Pages look up for people and businesses, a news ticker built into the toolbar, plus searches for weather, stocks, horoscopes, maps, public records.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP.
Where to Get It: http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/tbar/

Go Toolbar

Go uses the Google search engine, so if you search Go, you search Google. Unless you have Go email and spend a lot of time at ABC news, ESPN and Disney, there is little reason to have this tool bar. The toolbar will block pop-up ads, but no highlighting or other extra features are offered.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5 or higher. Pop-up blocker requires 5.5 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP.
Where to Get It: http://www.go.com/static/toolbar/install.html

Google Toolbar

Publicly released in December 2000, Google's Toolbar has the ability to block those annoying pop-up and pop-under ads. We really like the way Google highlights our search words in the page we are visiting. Highlighting and dragging text from a web page or other application onto the Google Toolbar is a quick and easy way to start a search. You can also right-click on the highlighted text and select "Google Search" from the pop-up menu. We don't have a lot of use for the auto fill, but that's not Google's fault... We just don't like them. The up button provides a convenient way to walk a web site's directory structure, an essential task for those using Google for research.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP or 2003 Server.
Where to Get It: http://toolbar.google.com

HotBot Quick Search Deskbar

This a cousin to the browser toolbar as it installs onto the Windows Explorer Taskbar rather than onto the browser. Its main ability is to provide quick access to performing searches on HotBot. Aside from searches, you may enter a variety commands into the search box. These commands will allow you to perform calculations, set an alarm, convert RGB decimals to hex, send email, execute DOS prompt commands and more. Neat.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95 or higher.
Where to Get It: http://www.hotbot.com/tools/

iWon Co-Pilot Toolbar

This toolbar kills pop-up ads with a fly swatter, complete with sound effects. When you conduct searches, you will earn entries into the iWon prize drawings. These are tracked for you in the upper portion of the toolbar. Access is provided to your My iWon page and your iWon Email. Note that there is no search time highlighting provided. A major drawback. Still, if you are a fan of iWon, this is a good toolbar to choose.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher and Netscape 4.5 through 4.78. It is NOT compatible with Netscape 6.0 or 7.0.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP.
Where to Get It: http://bfc.iwon.com/soft/promo/id/copilot.html

MSN Search Toolbar

The MSN Search Toolbar has a minimal set of features, but if you have an account with MSN its worth considering. You'll get One-Touch Access to your MSN Hotmail account, MSN Messenger and your personalized My MSN page. MSN also gives you a pop-up ad blocker and the ability to highlight your search terms on the web page.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP.
Where to Get It: http://toolbar.msn.com

Netscape Search Toolbar

You'd think that a Netscape toolbar would work with, well... Netscape! Alas, this toolbar is only for IE. Netscape offers the ability to highlight your search term in the web page. You also get pop-up blocking, access to the AOL Instant Messenger and news headlines.

Warning: If you click on the toolbar graphic at the top of the page, you will start the download process.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP.
Where to Get It: http://channels.netscape.com/ns/search/install.jsp

PepeSearch Toolbar
[Not Recommended] The PepeSearch Toolbar offers an intriguing ability to search in 48 languages with a single click. Despite several warnings from users, we decided to give it a go. We never did find out if the search was any good as the toolbar seemed to conflict with our already installed Google toolbar and never showed itself. Even after removing the PepeSearch Toolbar (Tip: Run the install program again to uninstall.), it has continued to plague our system. Our View->Toolbars drop down menu has a mysterious blank entry which must be checked for the Google Toolbar to appear and checking or unchecking the Google item seems to have no effect.

Warning: Installing this toolbar will change your browser home page setting to point to: http://www.pepesearch.com

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5 or 6.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP.
Where to Get It: http://software.pepesearch.com/ietoolbar/

Teoma Search Bar

No pop-up blocker here, but they do provide an "Email this page to a friend" button. You can also select dictionary and the word in the search box will be defined for you. If you conduct a search, your search terms can be highlighted on the web page.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP.
Where to Get It: http://sp.ask.com/docs/teoma/toolbar/

WebCrawler Toolbar
This toolbar will block pop-up ads, complete with sound effects you can select. The news ticker embedded in the toolbar will deliver up to the date news. Highlight text on a web page, right click it and select cursor search from the pop-up menu. This will cause WebCrawler to start a search based on your highlighted text. Aside from searching, you can get maps, stock quotes and weather forecasts.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP.
Where to Get It: http://www.webcrawler.com/info.wbcrwl/tbar/

Yahoo! Companion Toolbar

First and foremost, you can rid your screen of pop-up ads. Now that you've cleaned up your screen, smear it with yellow by hitting the highlight button. You'll easily see your search terms on the page. In conjunction with your Yahoo! ID, you can bookmark sites on the toolbar, move to another computer and retrieve those bookmarks. Your Yahoo! mail inbox is also tied into the toolbar through your ID. Nice.

Browser Compatibility: Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95 or higher.
Where to Get It: http://companion.yahoo.com