| Google Toolbar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | |
| Initial release | December 11, 2000; 24 years ago (2000-12-11)[1] |
| Final release | 7.5.8231.2252 (Internet Explorer), 7.1.2011.0512b (Firefox) / November 21, 2016 (Internet Explorer), May 12, 2011 (Firefox) |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Successor | Google Chrome |
| Type | Browser toolbar |
| License | Proprietaryfreeware |
| Website | www |
Google Toolbar was aweb browsertoolbar forInternet Explorer, developed byGoogle. It was first released in 2000 forInternet Explorer 5 and above. Google Toolbar was also distributed as aMozilla plug-in forFirefox from September 2005 to June 2011. On December 12, 2021, the software was no longer available for download,[2] and the main website now redirects to a support page.
Google Toolbar resided above the browser's tab bar and provided a search box to carry outweb searches. Users could log into theirGmail accounts and access their email, saved bookmarks, and web history. It had tools such asAutoLink, AutoFill,Translation, and spell checker on all browsers. The pop-up blocker and word finder were restricted toInternet Explorer.[3] Google Toolbar was often distributed throughproduct bundling with a primary download.
Google Sidewiki was launched on September 23, 2009, allowing users to make comments, which were visible to the public, on any web page.[4]Google usedranking algorithms to determine commentrelevancy and usefulness using criteria such as users voting up and down a comment and past contributions. Sidewiki was available forInternet Explorer andFirefox through Google Toolbar, theGoogle Chrome browser through an add-on,[5] and for other browsers, likeSafari, it was available as abookmarklet.
Web site owners could not control Sidewiki comments,[6] and there was no way for a web site to opt out of Sidewiki; however, Sidewiki was disabled onsecure sites.[7]
In September 2011, Google announced that it would discontinue Sidewiki.
My Location was ageolocation service which uses the location ofWi-Fi access points to determine the toolbar user's location.[8] This location was used to optimize search results based on where the user was located.[8] Google Toolbar could also provide the geolocation data to third-party websites[8] through theW3C Geolocation API.
Google Toolbar was criticized when the AutoLink feature was added to the toolbar because this new feature directed users to pre-selected commercial websites. For example, if it found a book'sISBN on a webpage, it provided a link to Amazon's product page for the particular book. Google said that the feature "adds useful links" and "none of the companies which received AutoLinks had paid for the service."
The desktop version of Google Toolbar showed thecached copy of any given search result, which was useful for slower Internet connections and benefitted byGoogle Web Accelerator until its discontinuation in 2008. This feature does not exist for the mobile version.[citation needed]
| Operating system | First version | Latest version | Support status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | ||||
| XP or later | 1.1.41-deleon | 7.5.8231.2252 | 2001–2016[9] | |
| 2000 | 1.1.41-deleon | 4[10] | 2000–2008[11] | |
| 98 andMe | 1.1.41-deleon | 3[10] | 2000–2006[12] | |
| 95 andNT 4.0 | 1.1.41-deleon | 2[10] | 2000–2005[13] | |
| macOS | ||||
| Jaguar or later | 3 | 7 | 2002–2011 | |
Google Watch has raised concerns about Google Toolbar's possible threats to privacy, such as tracking of browsing patterns, automatic installation of updates without the user's knowledge, and a privacy policy that can be revised without notice.[14] The toolbar does not track personally identifiable surfing activities of the end user unless advanced features such asPageRank are specifically enabled by the user.[15] It does track "anonymous" statistics, which can reveal a lot of information when correlated with other data, although similar criticisms could be made of Google's online search engine.[16]
Google Compute was a separatelydownloadable add-on for the Google Toolbar which utilized the user's computer to help theFolding@homedistributed computing project, which studies disease-relevantprotein folding and othermolecular dynamics. It was founded in March 2002 by Google co-founderSergey Brin. Functionally, it downloaded a small packet of work, performed calculations on it, and uploaded it back toStanford University.[17] Although it was limited in functionality and scope, it increased Folding@home's participation from 10,000 up to about 30,000 active CPUs.[18] The program ended in October 2005 in favor of the project's official clients, and is no longer available for the Toolbar.[19][20]
On December 12, 2021, Google Toolbar was quietly shut down by Google. The website redirected to Toolbar Support, stating the user should installGoogle Chrome instead, and showed instructions on how to uninstall Toolbar for those on Internet Explorer. Computers that still have Google Toolbar are not affected.[2][21] It now redirects to Chrome Support.
dead was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).
