13 March 2006
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it has purchased the company Onfolio (www.onfolio.com), and incorporated its information collection tool as an add-in to the toolbar. Microsoft's acquisition may be as much about acquiring the skills of CEO, JJ Alaire, as it is about acquiring the software his company has produced, especially in the light of repeated functionality with other upcoming Microsoft Products.
This toolbar seems to be geared towards keeping up with the Google toolbar. Features include 'Search This Site' to find something on the site you are currently viewing, and 'Windows Live Favourites', which allows you to save your favourites with Microsoft and access them from any machine.
The Windows Live Toolbar also auto-detects a site's RSS feeds, and has them automatically sent to your personalised Live.com home page. The toolbar alerts you when it detects an RSS feed and lets you subscribe to that feed. This is an interesting addition, but it replicates functionality found within the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 beta.
The toolbar also has extra security benefits to keep your computer secure while you surf the web, particularly focussing on protection from identity theft. Microsoft's 'Phish Filter' blocks you from inadvertently supplying your personal data to fraudulent websites that want to illegally profit from the theft of your personal or financial details.
Another feature of the Windows Live Toolbar is that it allows tabbed browsing in your browser window, much like Firefox already does (http://www.mozilla.com / firefox / ) and Explorer 7 will. This means that you can use your browser to open many web pages and, within the browser window you can choose to look at any of these windows, without having to reload the web page.
This beta product is freshly minted and, at the moment, doesn't yet offer many of the features developers intend to include, however this toolbar is well worth keeping an eye on.
Microsoft nets 'phish' with its Windows Live Toolbar beta
Microsoft has released its 'Windows Live Toolbar' beta. The toolbar incorporates a search bar so that you can search from any site using Windows Live Search (www.live.com) - MSN Search's eventual replacement.Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it has purchased the company Onfolio (www.onfolio.com), and incorporated its information collection tool as an add-in to the toolbar. Microsoft's acquisition may be as much about acquiring the skills of CEO, JJ Alaire, as it is about acquiring the software his company has produced, especially in the light of repeated functionality with other upcoming Microsoft Products.
This toolbar seems to be geared towards keeping up with the Google toolbar. Features include 'Search This Site' to find something on the site you are currently viewing, and 'Windows Live Favourites', which allows you to save your favourites with Microsoft and access them from any machine.
The Windows Live Toolbar also auto-detects a site's RSS feeds, and has them automatically sent to your personalised Live.com home page. The toolbar alerts you when it detects an RSS feed and lets you subscribe to that feed. This is an interesting addition, but it replicates functionality found within the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 beta.
The toolbar also has extra security benefits to keep your computer secure while you surf the web, particularly focussing on protection from identity theft. Microsoft's 'Phish Filter' blocks you from inadvertently supplying your personal data to fraudulent websites that want to illegally profit from the theft of your personal or financial details.
Another feature of the Windows Live Toolbar is that it allows tabbed browsing in your browser window, much like Firefox already does (http://www.mozilla.com / firefox / ) and Explorer 7 will. This means that you can use your browser to open many web pages and, within the browser window you can choose to look at any of these windows, without having to reload the web page.
This beta product is freshly minted and, at the moment, doesn't yet offer many of the features developers intend to include, however this toolbar is well worth keeping an eye on.
English
German/Deutsch
Norwegian/Norsk
Swedish/Svenska
Italian/Italiano
French/Français
Spanish/Español
Latest News
RSS News Feeds
Related Articles
