The MSN Tool Bar - Block and Search on the net
By Mumbai: | 19 Mar 2004
Apart from allowing easy access to popular MSN services like MSN Hotmail®, MSN Messenger, My MSN and MSN Search, the MSN Tool Bar offers two unique features, the customisable Pop-Up Blocker and the Highlight Viewer, in an easily accessible way to its users.
MSN says that these features address two core needs of Internet users today. While the customisable Pop-Up Blocker allows users to block obtrusive pop-ups that are so annoyingly commonplace on the Internet, the Highlight Viewer makes finding information on the Internet faster and more productive by highlighting, throughout the document, key words on which the search was carried out.
MSN says that the Internet measurement firm Nielsen/NetRatings recently reported a 133 per cent increase in pop-ups and pop-unders over a period of one year. Forty per cent of U.S. consumers surveyed by Jupiter Research, according to MSN, have ranked pop-ups as the most annoying form of online advertising, scoring higher than even the practice of email spam which was at 29 per cent.
The customisable Pop-Up Blocker feature not only allows users to prevent obtrusive pop-ups from opening up on their desktops, but also to decide which sites they want to see pop-ups from, and also, when they want to see the pop-ups. The facility even has a sound indicator that informs the user when a pop-up has been blocked.
The Highlight Viewer, as the name suggests, highlights the specified word or phrase throughout the results displayed, after a user enters a word or phrase into the search box within the MSN Toolbar. Users can then preview the search results in a small, unobtrusive panel. The facility, says MSN, makes web search more productive and efficient.
