Search Panel

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffMarch 9, 2005Few people know it, but Internet Explorer comes with a pretty powerful search sidebar. Trouble is, it doesn't search Google. But Search Panel does, as well as Yahoo, Looksmart, and Amazon. This IE plug-in automatically searches text you select on the page or type into the search box. Results appear in the sidebar, which is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, you don't have to start a new browser instance or surf somewhere else to run a search. On the other, the narrowness of the sidebar can make results hard to read. Search Panel maximizes its space by packing search engines' features, such as image, video, and news search, into a tabbed interface. Ominously, there's room set aside for Sponsors, and an Amazon ad appears under every Web search. But the shilling isn't obtrusive. IE users may get a lot of miles out of this freeware utility.