Google Advanced Side Search Bar for Windows

This IE add-on gave us problems from the get-go. First, we had trouble locating Google Advanced Side Search Bar right after we installed it. We had to go into our toolbar menu and add the icon to our IE toolbar. Clicking on the toolbar icon finally activated the resizable toolbar.

The sidebar interface isn't anything special in the looks department. In fact, its pretty plain. There are several search fields that allow you to define your search criteria. Each field lets you input different keyword and exact word combinations. You also can choose the language for returned pages and the file types. But when we tried to make a selection from the drop-down menus, the program wouldn't let us do it, no matter how many times we made a selection. We were stuck with the default settings.

Despite the awkward user interface, the program worked very well in locating specific words and phrases using Google. Still, we can't recommend a program that isn't fully functional, even if it's free.