The Bottom Line
A nasty, unnecessary ad vehicle in Internet Explorer, Hotbar proves quite useful and a lot of fun in email by making it easy to add backgrounds, animations, smileys, preset text, and more. Still, it's advisable to install Hotbar cautiously and after creating a system restore point.
Pros
- Hotbar is great fun and easy to use
- Huge collections of backgrounds, animations, and more are included with Hotbar
- Hotbar lets you design a business card-like signature easily
Cons
- In Internet Explorer, Hotbar is but an ad vehicle and tracks your web usage
- Using threat tactics and deception, Hotbar tries to silence critics concerned about Hotbar's privacy
- Hotbar does not offer sounds and music, and collections cannot be added to easily
Description
- Hotbar is an email toolbar for Outlook Express, Outlook, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail.
- From the Hotbar toolbar, you can add backgrounds, animations, smileys and pre-written text to mails.
- Hotbar also includes "eCards" and daily content (jokes, newspaper clippings, pictures,...).
- Each Hotbar collection contains hundreds of neatly categorized items.
- Lets you also create and append a signature designed like a business card.
- Design your own animations, backgrounds, smileys,... and submit them for inclusion in Hotbar.
- Hotbar collects anonymous usage statistics to identify and deliver the most popular content.
- Hotbar supports Windows 98/ME/2000/3/XP and Outlook Express, Outlook, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail.
Guide Review - Hotbar
In Internet Explorer, Hotbar is just a vehicle for ads, tracking your web usage and generally appearing as a real pest. But with email, Hotbar shows a different face. It is a funny face, and even a useful one.Integrating with Outlook, Outlook Express, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail (in Internet Explorer only, though), Hotbar makes it easy to add lots of fun stuff to your emails: colorful backgrounds, animations, smileys for every occasion, pre-written texts or whole eCards. Every category is well equipped and well organized to make your emails more interesting.
Hotbar lets you also design and insert a biz card-looking signature easily, and of course you can submit your fancy backgrounds, animations, text or whatever for inclusion in Hotbar.
If you can live with Hotbar and its invasion of your private space in Internet Explorer, it adds a lot of spice to your email.
