Microsoft unveils toolbar with PC search facility.

Marketing Week, December, 2004

Microsoft has launched a new version of its MSN Toolbar in the US. It has a built-in search facility that lets PC users find files on their own computers in the same way they can search the internet for information. A global roll-out is planned for next year.

The toolbar - the area at the top of the browser window where control buttons such as back, forward and refresh are usually found - has become hot property for internet companies. Increasingly, marketers are being offered the chance to create customised, branded versions that users download. For example, film distributor UIP has used branded toolbars in the online campaigns for the UK launches of films such as Thunderbirds and Shark Tales. But the rise of branded toolbars means companies such as MSN or...