For fans of the Google Toolbar (which allows you to Google within Internet Explorer without going to Google itself) like me, Jon Dube’s review in June 2003 of the Hotbot Deskbar came as a surprise. “Hotbot’s new Quick-Search (is) better than Google’s toolbar,” he wrote. He was right: the deskbar (which installed itself on PC system trays) made it much easier to search beyond Google.
I wondered at the time how long Google would let Hotbot have a monopoly of the deskbar market (such as it was). The answer: until two weeks ago, when it launched the Google Deskbar for Windows (like the Toolbar, no Mac version. But as my Mac friends tell me, OS X’s built-in Google and pop-up blockers mean you won’t miss the Toolbar).
I have been trying out the Deskbar, which is in an experimental mode right now, on several PCs and have made it my default way of searching, using it dozens of times a day.
Think of it as the Toolbar’s bigger, more muscular brother. Indeed, I think you won’t really “get” the Deskbar until you have used/been using the Toolbar for a while.
Here’s how it works. You download a file at toolbar.google.com/deskbar (Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher). It will install a search box on your system tray (the very bottom of your PC screen). You can then access Google from any Windows program, even if your browser isn’t open (of course, your machine needs to be online at the time). For instance, this weekend, I was working on a Word document and wanted to check Google results about Bhutan media (don’t ask). While in Word, I hit CTRL + ALT + G and my cursor went to the search box and I typed in “Bhutan media.” The results, instead of coming up in a browser, appear in a mini window that closes automatically when you move the cursor away (Shift + F1 brings it back). There are forward and backward navigation buttons and if you want to expand the mini window into a proper Google browser window, there’s an arrow to click on.
My verdict: this really works and is part of the continuous Google refinement of the search process. I especially liked being able to create my own customized searches of other sites (weather, sports, etc.) as described here. I wish, though, that more had come pre-installed, the way they do in the Hotbot Deskbar.
There’s an option to participate in Google’s collection of aggregate information about usage, which you might want to turn off if you are concerned about such features. I left mine on, for now (more on that feature and other privacy issues here).
Since I was a Toolbar addict, the hardest thing I found was breaking my ALT + G habit within the browser (which takes you to the Toolbar search, as opposed to CTRL + ALT + G for the Deskbar).
To keep up with developments at Google, journalists should sign up for Google’s LOW-VOLUME press mailing list through the subscription box on the lower-left side of Google’s press site (or e-mail press@google.com). You can also sign up for the “Friends of Google” newsletter at http://www.google.com/contact/newsletter.html.
Other ways to keep abreast of Google:
* labs.google.com
* My Things You Didn’t Know Google Does tip
Your turn: Have a tip or site you want to recommend? Let me know at poynter@sree.net.
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