Editorial Review 

The MapQuest toolbar allows its users access to MapQuest’s vast database of maps and directions all from the convenience of a browser plugin for Internet Explorer. It also comes bundled with a Yellow Pages drop down menu for easy business searches in your area.

Now the bad news: if your Windows settings are up-to-date, Windows will not allow you to download and install the MapQuest toolbar without some serious tweaking of your security settings because the toolbar’s publisher is listed as “unknown.” This can pose a serious problem for anyone not intimately familiar with Windows security settings and internet safety basics. In fact, why would MapQuest make a release with an unknown publisher knowing that Windows users would have a bear of a time actually installing and using the toolbar?

The bad news doesn’t end there. A quick Google search about the MapQuest toolbar reveals that even though the toolbar itself is not considered adware, spyware, or malware, some versions of it come bundled with software like EUniverse, a very well-known and particularly nasty spyware program.  Furthermore, there are rumors that the MapQuest toolbar actually installs a Trojan on users’ machines as a part of its user terms and conditions agreement. This seems like a bit of a high price for the convenience of using a map, don’t you think?

The toolbar itself isn’t very innovative, either. You simply type in the street address and it pops up another screen showing a map, some ads, and a link that enables you to receive driving directions. Why anyone would need this in a toolbar that installs malicious software on their machine is unfathomable, however, when simply bookmarking your favorite map website and clicking from there would only require one extra step in receiving the maps you wanted. The Yellow Pages function is really no reason to install the toolbar, either, since one would only have to bookmark a yellow pages directory website the same as their favorite map software.

As a toolbar, the MapQuest toolbar fails on every level imaginable and then some. The publishers of the software aren’t even savvy enough to appear trustworthy to a Windows operating system to install their third-party malicious software so it’s a more-than-fair guess that the actual toolbar is going to be shaky, at best. It’s recommended that you miss this toolbar altogether and simply visit MapQuest.com or any other map software that you favor.

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