The Google Toolbar for Firefox will soon emerge from its beta status; also, the company introduced a synchronization feature to make one’s browser settings available on multiple computers.
Version 2 of the Google Toolbar for Firefox has benefited from a series of bug fixes and other improvements. Brian Rakowski from Google posted on the Google Blog that they will update all Toolbar users to the new version over the next couple of weeks.
There is also the new tool for Firefox that recently became available from Google. Called Google Browser Sync, the extension to Firefox will keep track of the settings in all of the browsers where it is installed:
Google Browser Sync unifies your bookmarks, history, saved passwords, and persistent cookies across all the computers where you install it. It also remembers which tabs and windows you had open when you last closed any of your browsers and gives you a chance to reopen them.
Google did note that this release of the extension will increase Firefox’s start-up time as it syncs with browser settings made on other computers. They are working at decreasing that delay.
Browser Sync can be of use for a single computer, too. It can backup the browser’s settings and restore open tabs and windows when Firefox is restarted.
As ZDNet Google blogger Garett Rogers noted, some people may be concerned with privacy issues related to sharing information with Google. It appears Google has anticipated this with the release.
During the first-time setup of the Browser Sync, the setup wizard lets the user choose which components of Firefox to synchronize with other browsers. If the Session Saver extension is installed in Firefox, Browser Sync will ask to disable it and restart Firefox upon acceptance.
After entering a valid Google Account login, the Browser Sync wizard offers a choice of Standard or Advanced setup. Standard backs up everything and encrypts saved passwords and sensitive cookies. The user can select the Advanced option and choose to encrypt bookmarks, history, and tabs & windows as well.
The wizard then prompts for a PIN so Browser Sync can be setup on other computers. Our test of the setup yielded a problem at the step where the Browser Sync account is generated. An alert appeared that said, “An unknown error occurred, please try again later.”
Browser Sync, like any Firefox extension, can be uninstalled from the Extensions window in Firefox.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
