TIP OF THE DAY
THE GOOGLE TOOLBAR
I've saved the best for last. As great as using www.google.com is for finding what you need on the Internet, Google is even more useful when you install the Google Toolbar. You download it from Google by going to: www.google.com/
After you install the Google Toolbar, a toolbar will appear in Internet Explorer that provides an always-present search box for Google. With the Toolbar installed, you don't need to leave the website you are visiting to initiate a search. Type your search terms in the box, and then click on one of the five options to the right of the box. The options are:
Search Web - Search the entire Internet for the terms you entered.
Search Site - Search ONLY the particular website you happen to be visiting at that moment for the terms you entered.
Search Images - Search the Internet for pictures matching the terms you entered.
Can't remember what Ross Perot looks like? Type "Ross Perot" and click on Search Images!.
Search Groups - Search Newsgroups for the terms you entered. Newsgroups are discussion threads grouped by particular topics.
I will cover them in a future "Tip."
Search Directory - Search the Google directory (sort of like the table of contents) for the terms you entered.
OTHER FEATURES IN THE TOOLBAR:
News - Google searches hundreds (thousands) of news outlets on the Internet every few minutes and culls together the latest headlines.
It is like CNN.com on steroids. Give it a try.
PAGE INFO: Several options under this, but the two most useful are:
Similar Pages - Google finds websites similar to the on you are looking at. I've never actually used this, but I can see where it would be useful.
Translate into English - VERY useful. If you find a website that seems to have the info you need, but its written in one of the world's
major languages, click on this link and it does a fair job of translating. You can at least get the gist of
what is written on the page.
Highlight- Will highlight where the search terms are located on the page you are viewing. Each term is highlighted in a different color.
Experiment with the Google Toolbar. If you don't like it, you can always remove it. I must use it 10 to 15 times a day.
Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 02:55PM