ALOT Toolbar

CNET Editors' review

The A LOT News Toolbar may be just the thing for news junkies looking to replace their existing newsreader. Despite one oddity, this Internet Explorer add-on is nicely designed and avoids the cluttered, amateurishly cobbled-together appearance of many toolbars.

The main focus for this toolbar is news. We like the headline scroll incorporated into its design, plus the News Search and News Room buttons. We also liked that the latter allowed us to choose a preferred news site from a drop-down list, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, USA Today, NPR, BBC, and others. The button for a link to Writing Software seems a bit anomalous on this toolbar: clicking it took us to a site selling software for grammar and writing.

Still, those who avidly follow the news should be able to forgive the one inexplicable link tacked onto to this otherwise clean, functional, and free toolbar.

Publisher's Description

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All User Reviews
  • All versions:

    2.8 stars

    out of 5 votes

    • 5 star: 2
    • 4 star: 0
    • 3 star: 0
    • 2 star: 1
    • 1 star: 2
  • Current version:

    1.3 stars

    out of 3 votes

    • 5 star: 0
    • 4 star: 0
    • 3 star: 0
    • 2 star: 1
    • 1 star: 2
  • My rating:

    0 stars

    Write review

Results 1-3 of 3

  • 2.0 stars

    "Added without intent, unable to delete."

    February 15, 2013  |   By r2e

    Version: ALOT Toolbar 2.5.9

    Pros

    Minimum usage shows little to offfer.

    Cons

    No information available to delete!!!! Program not asked for, not ordered and unable to delete. Two detailed e-mails on their site asking for help, never answered. Six phone calls to the NY office yielded one opportunity to leave message, still unanswered, and five no phone answer at all. This is over the last 30 days.

    Summary

    Need an answer on how to get rid of this invasive program,supposedly required of product presentations on line or e-male

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  • 1.0 stars

    "It can't get worse than this by ALOT!"

    February 15, 2012  |   By cometkohoutek

    Version: ALOT Toolbar 2.5.9

    Pros

    The writers of this program are good at fooling children into download a useless program!

    Cons

    Painful to remove an absolutely worthless program!

    Summary

    Avoid at all costs!

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  • 1.0 stars

    "How annoying is Alot? A lot!"

    August 7, 2011  |   By hackerb9

    Version: ALOT Toolbar 2.5.9

    Pros

    The one good thing I can say about it is that the Alot Toolbar is not technically a virus or malware. It preys upon unsophisticated computer users, fooling them into installing something they don't need.

    Cons

    This toolbar keeps getting installed by accident on the computers in the lab I administer. It adds a bunch of useless buttons to the toolbar, reducing the space for actual browsing. To add insult to injury, it changes the homepage without asking.

    Summary

    While not technically malware, the Alot Toolbar is mostly a scam. It makes itself easy to install accidentally by non-tech savvy people (such as the seniors who use the lab I run) but almost impossible for the same people to remove. It's main purpose is not to be useful to the end user, but to show advertisements. Personally, I think Google, Yahoo!, and Bing should together refuse to pay advertisers who get clicks through dubious ethics like this. Cutting off the revenue source for Alot will make the job of volunteer administrators like myself much easier.

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ALOT Toolbar