In This Chapter

• Installing and using the Google Toolbar

• Upgrading to Toolbar 2.0 (beta)

• Putting Google’s buttons on your browser’s toolbar

• Making Google your browser’s default search engine

Even if you think Google is God, visiting the home page for every little search is an undeniable inconvenience. Shouldn’t Google worship transpire in the user’s home, wherever that might be? On the Internet, “home” is your browser. Google understands. Google loves you. Google is everywhere — or can be, if you install one (or all) of the three browser enhancements described in this chapter.

Every browser has built-in toolbars near the top of the browser window. They contain navigation buttons, a Web address bar, and other perks that help you move around online with a minimum of hassle. In addition, you can attach third-party toolbars to some browsers. (You are the first party, the company that created your browser is the second party, and the company that created the toolbar is the third party. And not one of them has an open bar.) Google’s add-on Toolbar absolutely rocks. If you’re using it already, you’ll breeze through the first two sections of this chapter.

The Google Toolbar is the star of this chapter, but the other two browser enhancements are also important:

• Google browser buttons: This feature attaches one, two, or three buttons (your choice) to an existing browser toolbar. They invite you to search Google using any highlighted word on any Web page as a keyword; instantly call up pages similar to the page currently displayed; and go directly to Google’s home page through a button that acts as a dedicated bookmark.

Browsers are not all equal

Most people use some version of the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) browser. And only a minority of those folks use a version preceding version 5, much less version 4. That big majority of IE4+ users can proceed to install Google browser buttons and the default browser search engine with no trouble. IE5+ users can do all that plus install the Google Toolbar smoothly. It’s clear sailing for AOL7+ users, too, if they use the default Web browser.

For the rest, here’s a rundown of the browser requirements for each Google browser enhancement.

• Google Toolbar: The Toolbar is available only for IE versions 5 and 6, running on Windows 95 or later (98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP). No Mac, no Netscape.

• Google browser buttons: Windows computers must be running Windows 95 or later, and version 4 or later of Internet Explorer or Netscape. On the Macintosh, IE 4.5 or Netscape 4.5 (or later in both cases) must be the browser of choice. The browser buttons are the most forgiving browser enhancement of Google’s three choices.

• Google as the browser’s default search engine. Internet Explorer versions 4 through 6 can download and install a Google-provided file that changes IE’s default search engine. On a Mac, you can change IE5 (but not if you’re running Apple’s OS X operating system) with help from the visakopu site, endorsed by Google. Go to this link for more information:

  www.visakopu.net/ie5google/

  To make Google the default search engine for Netscape versions 4.0 through 4.7, you must edit the prefs file. Google warns about the danger of doing this but provides instructions at this page:

  www.google.com/options/defaults.html

• Google as your browser’s default search engine: Every modern browser has a built-in search engine — actually, a licensing agreement with an online engine that forces the browser to run keywords through that engine. Internet Explorer opens a vertical pane in the left portion of the browser, containing a keyword box and other search tools. You can change the default engine to Google.

This chapter steps you through installing each of the three browser enhancements and choosing among the many Toolbar options.