Google For Dummies

Putting Google Under Your Browser’s Hood

Making Google your browser’s default search engine casts Google’s beneficent shadow over your online life in yet another way. After it’s installed, Google springs to action when you click the browser’s built-in Search button. This transformation is simple to accomplish in Internet Explorer version 4 or later, and that’s the browser used in the following description:

1. Go to this page:

   www.google.com/options/defaults.html

2. Click the make Google your default search engine link.

3. Scroll down to the Internet Explorer section and click the first this file link.

   A window appears asking whether you want to Open or Save the file.

4. Click the Open button.

   A Registry Editor window most likely appears asking for confirmation to add information to one of your Windows registry folders.

5. Click the Yes button.

   A Registry Editor window might appear confirming that information was successfully added to the registry.

6. Click the OK button.

7. Click the Search button on the Internet Explorer toolbar to see Google appear in a left browser pane (see Figure 9-17).

   
   Figure 9-17: Google as Internet Explorer’s default search engine: yet another way to bolt Google onto your browser.

   Remember

   With Google as IE’s default search engine, you can search just by entering keywords into the Address bar (no need to click the Search button and open the left browser pane). Doing so displays Google search results in the browser’s main display pane. Figure 9-18 illustrates this method, in a fully appointed IE browser running Google Toolbar, Google buttons, and the default Google search engine in the left pane. Note that the keywords (wireless home networking), originally entered into IE’s Address bar, are automatically copied to the Google Toolbar’s keyword box, but not to the search box in the left pane. Figure 9-18: Results of a search launched from IE’s Address bar, with Google as the default search engine. In this case, the left pane is not used.