As this is my inaugural post, I think I should introduce myself. My name is Meaghan (pronounced MEE-gunn), and I have been in computer education for over five years. I teach BCIS and related classes at a small town in Texas, and am therefore abundantly qualified to discuss technology and computers on the World Wide Web. I have a beautiful kid and am a firm believer in Jesus Christ.
With that being said, let's get this show on the road!
Today we're going to talk about toolbars.
Toolbars can be used for many, many things. Some toolbars help us find things on the internet much more easily than we could otherwise. For instance, there are toolbars that assist in finding things on music sites, and toolbars that protect you from hackers on the internet. There are even toolbars that turn normal text into smilies! How cool is that! Without toolbars, the internet would indeed be a very boring place, and much less usable.
Just like a skilled handyman on his first day of a new job, you don't want to show up to the internet without your tools!
It is very, very hard to remember the URL (pronounced "earl") of a web site. Search engines such as Bing, Yahoo!, Ask.com, and AltaVista can be very helpful... but what if you can't remember their URLs either? Well, this is when it helps to have a search toolbar! It sits there right under your other toolbars, ready to faithfully help you find whatever you may need. A good toolbar like My Web Search will help to find things quicker and more easily than you ever could before!
Most toolbars integrate a search functionality, but the toolbars can be used for many other things as well. Do you know what a "pop up" is? A pop up is a very nasty trick used by advertisers that makes a new window pop up on your screen just like magic. The problem is that often these pop ups show you advertisements for products that you may not want... how could they? They don't even know you! Your good friend, the toolbar, is to the rescue once again. Many toolbars can keep track of everything you do online, and using fancy logarithms, they will display much more relevant advertising content to you. Next time you get a pop up, it may be an advertisement for something you just gotta have!
While computers have come a long way in the past few years, the internet has not. The best and most popular browser, Internet Explorer, can only do so much to help the problem. I heard that there is a technology called Silverlights that Microsoft launched to help make content much more engaging and interesting, but almost no websites have adopted it. Because of this, the World Wide Web (this is the same thing as the Internet) is in almost exactly the same place that it was in 1995.
Toolbars change everything.
Every major website will have a toolbar that you can install to make surfing it much more friendly, enjoyable, and safe. Many sites will not work without toolbars. I personally use one for MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo!, Bing, Limewire, and a few other sites. They make the web sights work much better than they would without the toolbar. Without toolbars, the internet wouldn't be any fun at all.
Now the question on your mind must be, "How do I get toolbars?" It's very easy! Just download nearly any piece of software and install it. Printers, digital cameras, anti-viruses, webcams, and many other computer things will come with toolbars. The best part is that they are almost always free of charge! You never really know what you're going to get. In fact, sometimes I will download software from all over the place just to see what kinds of toolbars I can find. It's all very interesting.
The world of computers beckons, fellow Information Superhighway traveler. Roll the windows down and let the wind run through your hair.
And oh... don't forget to bring your tools!
