Substitute for Google Deskbar

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Hi everyone,
I have been using Google Deskbar for many years now and is no longer supported and is also acting strange here lately. Is there an equivalent out there without getting the Google Sidebar. I did try that but it’s way too much for my needs. I have Windows XP pro, SP3. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Using a modern browser like Chrome – just enter search items in the address bar and hit return. In Firefox the search bar is right at the top. The new internet explorer allows searches right in the address bar to. I dont’ know about previous versions as I dropped IE back at version 6 as it’s such an insecure and greatly exploited browser.

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Thanks for your reply. I realize the address bar in browsers but prefer to be able to search without opening browser. I know I’m probably reaching for the unattainable….but have to try. If I’m not mistaken, there was an article out there somewhere awhile back that explained a way to extract the “search bar” from Google Side Bar, but didn’t bookmark it at the time and havn’t been able to find it since.

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I don’t know if this will help you. Here is a quote from a Google site…..
“If you’d rather not have a sidebar, you can minimize it into either a deskbar — which you can use to keep a small search box right in your Windows taskbar — or a floating deskbar — which includes a search box that floats above all other windows and can be dragged anywhere you want on your desktop. Both these options allow you to quickly launch applications or search your computer and the web.”

From this website …. Google Desktop features

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Ah yes, but thats what I am trying to avoid…having “all that” just running in the background wasting resources. Thats why I liked the Google Deskbar. But don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your reply.

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You could try a different search engine such as Everything[/url]. Several Loungers have recommended it in other posts. It appears to be fast and lightwieght.

Note: It does NOT index file content. See Everything FAQ for more information.

Joe

--Joe

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No but thanks tho. I’m mainly looking for a “web” search substitute. well I’ll end this thread by saying thanks to all who tried to help me on this. I guess I’m just a picky one on this LOL

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I do not know which version of Windows you are using, but there are a variety of Desktop Gadgets available for Windows Vista and Windows 7 that are Web “search engines”. Have a look here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ZA/windows/downloads/personalize/gadgets

Edit: For example, one of them is a “Google” gadget. Others are “Bing” and “Multisearchit” etc.

Further edit: Sincere Apologies: I had a blind moment. I see you are using Wndows XP……

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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Until you use it, people don’t understand the Google Deskbar and the beauty of it. One reason it wasn’t successful, was that the initial configuration wasn’t nearly as good as if you simplified it. It was like having the search window of Google on your taskbar, that you could search using a key combination (to get to the window of the Google search on the taskbar), from any application, ex. a word processor, and instantly be taken to the page you searched for in Google. Google probably axed it partly because it eliminated the need to go to their initial Google search page, and view related ads to your search. Instead, it took you right to the page you wanted. I’d even use it to check the spelling or definitions of unusual words that weren’t in spell check.

Never having to start up your browser, never having to place your cursor in a window. It was super convenient. Now I just got Windows 8 and it doesn’t work, even with applications that restore the taskbar and start button.

The Google Deskbar was even handy for searching in Google. In Windows 8, the Address bar may be pinned to the task bar, but this isn’t really the same at all. :mad:mad.

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With my new Windows 8 computer, after spending a few days setting it up and looking for a substitute for Google deskbar, which I used on Vista, I found the “address” window on the Windows 8 taskbar was not working well, and I tried key combinations to open up google as well.

The best alternative for me was just to use IE, which allows pinning any web page (in my case, Google search) to the taskbar. If you put it first in order on the taskbar, you can also open it with Windows key + 1. It’ll do.

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