Skip to main content

Google Toolbar vs MSN Search Toolbar

Google Toolbar for IE has been my favorite IE add-on until I put my hands on the new Windows Live Toolbar with Onfolio.



After working with both toolbars for a couple of days, I decided to uninstall the Google Toolbar in favor of Windows Live Toolbar. And I am not missing any of the Google stuff. Microsoft has made a real smart move with Windows Live.

Here are some of the reasons that Windows Live Toolbar is better than Google Toolbar:



Google Websearch - I love Google websearch. Live toolbar lets you choose a search engine of your choice (see graphic)

For Google: http://www.google.com/search?q=$w

For Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$w

Tab Browser - Live Toolbar adds Firefox like Tabbed Browsing in IE.

Integrated RSS reader - The Feed Discovery button in Live Toolbar is highlighted when a webpage has Feeds and provides one click subscription. No more searching that Orange Icon on webpages.

Hightlight Viewer - The Live Toolbar Hightlight Viewer creates a snapshot (image) of the current webpage with the search terms highlighted and you can quickly jump to any search term (see graphic) - Google has no such feature.



Integrated MSN services - If you are using other Microsoft services like MSN Spaces, Messenger, MyMSN or Hotmail, Live Toolbar provides simple access to these services.

Onfolio Web Research - The most useful feature of Live Toolbar is Onfolio - You can blog, capture entire websites, webpage objects, read and subscribe to RSS feeds all inside the IE enivornment.

Anti-Phishing Support - Windows Live Toolbar includes a Phishing Filter. The filter checks the Web sites you visit in real time, using information on phishing sites via an online service run by Microsoft.

Do I miss anything in Windows Live Toolbar ?
I miss two features that exist only in Google Toolbar - the Pagerank button and Translate this Page feature. I hope someone develops MSN addins for them soon.

Popular posts from this blog

How to Download Contacts from Facebook To Outlook Address Book

Facebook users are not too pleased with the "walled garden" approach of Facebook. The reason is simple - while you can easily import your Outlook address book and GMail contacts into Facebook, the reverse path is closed. There's no "official" way to export your Facebook friends email addresses or contact phone numbers out as a CSV file so that you can sync the contacts data with Outlook, GMail or your BlackBerry. Some third-party Facebook hacks like "Facebook Sync" (for Mac) and "Facebook Downloader" (for Windows) did allow you to download your Facebook friends' names, emails, mobile phone number and profile photo to the desktop but they were quickly removed for violation of Facebook Terms of Use. How to Download Contacts from Facebook There are still some options to take Friends data outside the walls of Facebook wall. Facebook offers the Takeout option allowing you to download all Facebook data locally to the disk (include...
Read more

Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts for Power Users

All features in Mozilla Firefox browser are accessible through the use of the keyboard. You can use shortcut keys to view and save Web pages, search the web, open new webpages, work with bookmarks, or find text on the current webpage. Some of the most common keyboard shortcuts in Mozilla Firefox are Ctrl+N (to open a new Firefox window), Ctrl+T (to open a new tab), Ctrl+F4 (to close the current tab) and Ctrl+S to save the current webpage. Mozilla Firefox supports many more powerful keyboard shortcuts. For instance, by pressing a simple key combination, you can manually delete autocomplete entries from the Firefox location bar or Web forms. I am sharing a list of my favorite Mozilla Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts that make web browsing with Firefox even more fun . And you also save your precious time as navigating through several layers of Firefox Toolbar menus is no longer necessary. 1. Web Search Ctrl+K moves the cursor to the Search Bar. You can then type in the terms you wish to fin...
Read more

Digital Inspiration

Digital Inspiration is a popular tech blog by  Amit Agarwal . Our popular Google Scripts include  Gmail Mail Merge  (send personalized emails with Gmail ),  Document Studio (generate PDFs from Google Forms ) and   File Upload Forms ( receive files  in Google Drive). Also see  Reverse Image Mobile Search , Online Speech Recognition and Website Screenshots , the most useful websites on the Internet.
Read more