The sjhoward.co.uk toolbar, for Internet Explorer and Firefox, has just undergone a radical makeover… it’s now pretty much a news junkie’s dream!

The feature list, with some of the changes highlighted:

• Improved: Instant access to sjhoward.co.uk from any site on the web, including full search functionality and built-in access to the latest posts
• Improved: Search from anywhere on the web with Google, Yahoo, MSN, Technorati, Wikipedia, and more!
• New: Live built-in headlines from more than fifteen of the top UK news sites, updating throughout the day
• New: Live links to hundreds of the latest news videos direct from the BBC and Reuters, constantly updated to give you easy access to the very latest content
• Improved: Links to more than twenty of the most important news sites on the web – with the list growing all the time
• New: The weather forecast for wherever you are throughout the world, always conveniently displayed
• New: An email checker to let you know when new messages are waiting – works with Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, and any service with POP3 access
• Privacy protector blocks pop-ups and clears history, cookies, and browser cache on request
• Fully customisable: You choose which components to display, and even add your own!
• Free automatic updates of new features as they become available
• Now available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox

The toolbar is provided completely free of charge. It comes with no spyware or viruses, does not open pop-ups or hijack your searches, and no personal information is required to use the software. This is the fourth version of the sjhoward.co.uk toolbar, which first appeared way back on simonhoward.co.uk as a browser modification, followed shortly by a customised version of Internet Explorer. This was later replaced by an EffectiveBrand toolbar, of which this latest release is the second version.

Current users will be automatically updated (indeed, should already have been automatically updated). New users can download the toolbar here, or get more information here.