New York — Search engine giant Google Inc., recently unveiled a latest version of its beta of Google Toolbar 6 for Internet Explorer. The moderate new release of Google’s IE toolbar beta incorporates features both old and new to Internet Explorer, which includes Google Suggest and thumbnails for your most visited sites on blank tabs. It also announces the arrival of the stand-alone Quick Search Box, a feature previously seen in Google Desktop and a Mac-online client.
The new release also consiste of a feature brought forth from the company’s desktop search product — a search box that runs whether or not you have your browser open. This special box resides next to the Start button on your taskbar, and allows you to search the Web, your browser bookmarks, and any files and applications you have on your PC.
Once you have installed the new IE toolbar beta (note that the link will redirect unless you are using IE), the Quick Search features can be activated by clicking on the Google button in the taskbar or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Space.
Once activated, then simply type what you are looking for and Quick Search will bring up relevant links, applications, search shortcuts and suggestions. If the result is a web link, Quick Search will open it in your default browser.
If Quick Search box does not suit your taste, you can disable it by heading to the toolbar’s settings and turning off the “Show quick search box outside the browser” option.
In a blog post, the company said this release is an attempt to put the focus back on search. In essence, it is getting people to start a Google search whether or not they have got their browser open — enabling the company more chances to serve up ads. Part of that is already apparent, as users get sponsored results through toolbar searches, just like they would when searching from Google.com.
Google has also bundled Toolbar 6 beta with suggestions and sponsored links. Suggestions are emphasized with bold type, and sponsored links appear at the bottom of the suggestion drop-down window.
Last on Google’s prominent list for Toolbar 6 beta is a new page layout for blank tabs that features thumbnails of your most visited pages. Almost every browser vendor is now adapting a similar tricks to make more use of blank browser tab pages, including Microsoft with its IE8 beta and Apple with its new Safari 4 beta. Google, distinguished itself here a little by displaying not just your most-visited sites, but also the three most recently closed tabs.
Presumably, at some point Google will spin the Quick Search aspect off as its own application, but until then, while the IE tie-in might be confusing, Quick Search works well and is worth a try. Nevertheless, making search more easy and accessible is usually a good thing, and this is precisely what Toolbar 6 does.
Users already running Google’s desktop search program can turn off the quick search box, or use it as a replacement. Google has posted instructions for doing that here.