Since as long ago as September last year, you may have noticed the appearance of a pale blue sidebar on the left of your page display in Internet Explorer (as per image right). The culprit is Google Sidewiki, a new feature introduced with the Google Toolbar. It’s there for users to leave comments on visited web pages (which might then be shared with other users). If you don’t use Internet Explorer with the Google Toolbar installed, you probably won’t have this.
Now, the important bit. If you would prefer for your screen space not to be eaten up by this sidebar, how do you turn it off? Follow these steps:
- Find your Google Toolbar and look for the settings button (a spanner) as shown here:
- From the option categories on the left, choose Tools
- Deselect the checkbox next to Sidewiki (see screenshot)
And good riddance, the Google Sidewiki sidebar should now be banished.
