AOL Desktop (formerly AOL Desktop Search)

Since the Internet is home to a large variety of content that can aid in any domain, your web browser represents a powerful multifunctional tool. Amongst others, AOL Desktop promises to enhance your web surfing experience and provide the means to customize the tools you mostly work with for quick access wherever you need.

One of the first things you might want to pay attention to is the setup process, because you might end up with potentially unwanted applications also deployed on your system. Other than this, if you already own an AOL account, more options are available right from the start.

In other words, the application uses your AOL account in order to give you the possibility to personalize your workspace and this is especially practical if more users work with this application. What's more, a built-in feature gives you the possibility to set up your email accounts in order to receive and send messages between multiple protocols.

In terms of design, the application is polished, with a practical and well-organized upper toolbar which you can slightly customize. Several buttons feature preset links to major locations on the web, like entertainment, news or business, but you can change the links as well as the corresponding icon.

This is not your average bookmarks manager, because the integrated web browser also comes with the possibility to save frequently accessed pages and have them displayed in a classic method on its own toolbar.

There's also a small search field you can use to quickly look up items of interest, but the default engine cannot be changed. If too many tabs are opened and you find it difficult to locate the ones of interest, pressing a button displays all of them in smaller windows for quick identification.

To sum it up, AOL Desktop comes equipped with a handy set of features that can truly enhance your web surfing experience. It can be customized and used both as a means of entertainment or a powerful business partner with its support for multiple email clients. System requirements are average and pose no problems, making it a suitable alternative for commonly used browsers.