Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer

If you’re into toolbars, Internet Explorer, and Google, the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer does more than give IE a mere shot of nitro. With a set of features both useful and self-promoting, Google Toolbar 6 feels like it adds eight cylinders to IE’s engine, turning it into a powerhouse of personalized functionality for both IE 8 users and those who are stuck on earlier versions.

There’s the dedicated Google search window, the effective pop-up blocker, the form autofiller, the translation utility, the spell checker, and the map tool that automatically links addresses in Web pages to maps. Then there’s the full integration with the Google suite: Google Earth, Google News, Froogle, Google Maps, Blogger, and others. Every single one of the integrated tools, including the toolbar itself, is fully customizable. New in version 6 is a slick redo of the translation tool, allowing for one-click translations of single words or entire Web pages.

Note that using advanced features such as PageRank automatically sends the URL of the site you’re viewing back to Google’s servers. This can be enabled or disabled during installation or at any time by clicking the toolbar’s Options button. Unfortunately, there’s no way to remove the search bar, which wasn’t featured in IE 6 but came standard in IE 7 and duplicates IE’s own search bar. Still, by permanently setting the two search bars to different engines, you can at least avoid a waste of space. You can even use the Google Toolbar without a Google account. But considering all that comes with it, why would you?