Forum Moderators: open
You can find a couple somewhat new features under toolbar options and then clicking on experimental features. Most of these have been seen before:
Selected Toolbar Threads:
Toolbar UnLoad Option [webmasterworld.com]
New Toolbar: Experimental features [webmasterworld.com]
Hidden Distributed Search Function in Google Toolbar [webmasterworld.com]
Distributed Search Function in new Google Toolbar [webmasterworld.com]
Funny thing about Google toolbar voting feature [webmasterworld.com]
Google toolbar Hidden features [webmasterworld.com]
Google Toolbar Checksum url algo [webmasterworld.com]
Google Toolbar Beta Vote function [webmasterworld.com]
Hidden Feature in Toolbar [webmasterworld.com]
Has The Toolbar Gone Mainstream? [webmasterworld.com]
Toolbar Causes Indexing? [webmasterworld.com]
Google Visits What you Visit if you have the Toolbar [webmasterworld.com]
Pointing toolbar at www2 - www3 [webmasterworld.com]
What effect do the toolbar smilie faces have? [webmasterworld.com]
DC Toolbar Functions Turned on [webmasterworld.com]
Toolbar Policy - What happens to the data? [webmasterworld.com]
Google toolbar self updated to 1.1.57-deleon [webmasterworld.com]
Toolbar Update - 1.1.58 [webmasterworld.com]
Toolbar Update - 1.1.61 [webmasterworld.com]
just for fun:
[www-cs-students.stanford.edu...]
My home office pc's toolbar is still at 1.1.62, but we also have a net cafe in town and half the pc's are at 1.1.63 and the others have stayed the same?!? They all run from the same connection and are on and off at the same time. Weird and wonderful G...
Helps Google compute -- what... I don't know?
Our goal: to understand protein folding, protein aggregation, and related diseases
I'm all for the idea....
- Are there any security issues?
- How does it manage the demands it makes on your machine so it doesn't slow down performance (the way, say, Find Fast did before I learned how to turn it off)?
PS: I probably should have read Brett's link thoroughly before posting. To answer my two questions, which might be fairly common, if it's OK to post this here:
- about security:
The Google Compute project takes computer security very seriously, and the Compute architecture has been built with effective security as a central concern. All program code is digitally signed, and must be verified before being executed. Work data is also digitally signed by the servers, and must be verified as authentic before being processed by the client. The third-party projects we support are carefully chosen, and are not made available by Google Compute before they undergo thorough reviews, security-audits and significant testing.
- about system resources:
In Conservative mode (selectable from the menu) it is even more cautious, waiting until the user is not actively using the system before beginning work.
I've been running SETI@Home, independently of the new toolbar, for about a year. The SETI client runs at ultra-low priority, just above the idle task, and gives up the CPU to anything else that needs to run. It has three modes: Run when started manually, run as a screensaver, and run always. In run always mode, there is sometimes a slight delay when I give the CPU some real work to do, but otherwise, I don't notice it (system is a 1GHz P3, just for reference). The "work units" (data) come in small chunks, so the disk and memory footprints are small.
I suspect most of these other clients use the same technique.
As far as security goes, the client only phones home when it has finished processing a work unit, and the format of data in both directions is proprietary (they want to avoid faked results from users, so this also affords some protection to the users). All connections are requested by your machine, not their server. It worked fine once configured for my proxy server. I don't think there's any more security exposure than with any other kind of client most of us run.
Jim
Frequently Asked Questions [toolbar.google.com]
I checked "not now, later" to read it through thoroughly and get more input from other people.
Just so I'm clear. If we do nothing did we already agree to it when we clicked "accept" to the toolbar tos?
This is only the most recent toolbar - the icon kind of looks like a strand of DNA. You can also turn off the compute mode without removing the bar.
If so, how is this different from the spyware that comes along with kazaa to use your system to serve music files when your usage is low? (other than the good cause thing).
Although anything is possibly, the new bar's purpose is to assist in computing very enormous gnome equations, and nothing to do with hacking you or spyware.
Feh...but then I'm waiting for the Linux version.
This is only the most recent toolbar - the icon kind of looks like a strand of DNA. You can also turn off the compute mode without removing the bar.
from >about google toolbar
version: 1.1.63-deleon/en
no dna, nothing about ggogle compute anywhere
version: 1.1.63-deleon/enno dna, nothing about ggogle compute anywhere
Like Powdork my Google toolbar is showing it's the latest version but I can't see any references to Google Compute or a DNA style icon.
select -- Do you want to try Google Compute? Yes, turn it on!
and depress bar "Ok I've made my selection".
You will not receive it, if you do not activate it.
true enough, but I remember some of the more technically inclined people in the past commenting that scumware stealing processor cycles and whippets of bandwidth is what was really bugging them.
that ubergeek argument has some merit, I paid money for that cpu, and for bandwidth, not to mention the electricity to run it. But at the same time, fortunately, i don't really care.
Science Daily Article [sciencedaily.com]
I find it humorous that anyone running IE would worry about any security issues it the toolbar.
Yet another fine example of security ignorance.
Just click on toolbar options and then Experimental Features ...there are 3 options, the most interesting is the exit popup killer !
then I'm waiting for the Linux version.
He.. and we all *ixers will enjoy in reverse-eng their CRC URL-encryption of the PR stuff?
No, I think this will never happen.. :)
cminblues
Nifty.
New stuff:
A combined "search button" (not sure what that does - looks the same to me).
An ONunLOAD js killer. Usually stops popups or popunders.
Next Previous buttons to step through search results. (most of us have had that one for awhile though)
I find it appalling that google can promote a charity/research facility or anything and then install it on my computer/toolbar without asking. I have removed it, as when I support charities etc I want to choose them freely not have a toolbar make suggestions and actually upload load it so I have to go and say no I do no want it.
Bad move IMHO.
I don't understand why people get so worked up about an optional feature that you have to ELECT to use!
I'd feel much more annoyed/hurt by the tracking stuff of PR adv. feature.
[And I'm not talking about cookies ;)]
cminblues
