It is safe to assume that virtually everyone online has at one time or another worked with a search engine toolbar. Who is not familiar with the slim little bar that packs a powerful punch and can save you time and energy when searching for specific items on the ‘Net? It is true that in the past toolbars mostly referred to the functionality bars that contained certain browser functions, such as the back button, and various other icons that the manufacturer thought should be easily accessible for the computer user. Toolbar icons are specifically designed with the end user in mind and as such they are easily recognizable and have added tremendous speed to the browsing process.

It did not take long for the search engine toolbar to enter the mainstream and to become a staple for the Internet user. In the past, free toolbars were available from a variety of websites that sought to make money in the SEO toolbar business. While they offered the user the carrot of paying them for their Internet presence – usually something like 50 cents for every hour surfed – they also offered the benefits of a search engine toolbar, yet instead of displaying sites according to popularity, they would display the sites with which they had affiliate agreements. This lasted for the better part of six months, and then just as quickly as this kind of toolbar became popular, it fell into disfavor.

The next generation of search engine toolbar wanted to become the cool toolbars of the next millennium and as such they attempted to please the web browser while at the same time they attempted to make a few dollars by affiliating themselves with various sites and also pushing those sites with the help of the bar. Yet it soon became apparent that these bars opened the gateway for viruses and other undesired bits of code to enter a user’s computer, and thus once again they fell out of favor.

At this point in time the search engine toolbar – such as the Google toolbar, Dogpile toolbar, Yahoo toolbar, MSN toolbar, and even eBay toolbar - is here to stay. While almost everyone is enamored with the Google tool bar and to a lesser extent with any other Metacrawler toolbar, many look upon the Yahoo tool bar with displeasure. Part of the problem lies in the fact that it is virtually impossible to remove the Yahoo toolbar if you run Internet Explorer. Another part simply lies in the fact that it is bundled as a service with other desirable applications and as such is more a necessary evil than a bar freely chosen.