Terra for Windows

If your browser's built-in links to weather, shopping, and so forth don't satisfy your search needs, you may want to give this app a try--but we ran into problems during testing.

Terra is a standalone program for searching for nearly any type of Web site. The plain but functional interface lacks pizazz, but its certainly easy to use. The preloaded links associated with the row of category buttons along the app's top frame included the most popular Web destinations, and adding new links and a fresh location for weather searches was easy to do.

In our tests, Terra performed quickly overall, but the persistent 10-second nag screen was truly annoying. The main problem was with the Read Article button, which was supposed to open one of the preloaded News sources. Instead, every time we time we clicked it, an error message box popped up and the app suddenly closed.

Links to shopping, news, and weather are typically found in most toolbars, so chances are you already have this type of functionality, and the fact that its a stand-alone program doesn't add any new or special functionality. Finally, Terra's buggy Read Article button means you can't even reap what benefits it does have to offer. Skip this link program; you won't be missing much.