Button, button, who stole the button?

Q I have been having trouble bringing up the standard Google search screen for the past couple of weeks. There is no search button. What can I do?

JOHN BERRYHILL, WAYZATA

A There's nothing wrong with your computer. Google has been running an experiment for the past few weeks, and you were one of many test subjects who weren't told what was going on.

Google says it frequently experiments with its home page. In this case, some people who went to Google got a search page without the familiar buttons. You had to run your cursor over the page to make the buttons appear.

Google couldn't be reached for comment, but on Oct. 30, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google's official response was, "This is just a test, and a way for us to gauge whether our users will like an even simpler search interface." (See tinyurl.com/yfrwegr.)

The Christian Science Monitor reported there have been several variations of the Google search page. There was a page that was blank except for the search box; a page with "This space intentionally left blank" where the search buttons should have been; and one with the words "Press enter to search." (For details, see tinyurl.com/y92h77p.)

Q I recently read an article in USA Today that suggested disabling third-party browser cookies to avoid being tracked online. I have Internet Explorer 7, but I can't find an option regarding third-party cookies. What should I do?

A Internet Explorer 7 can protect you from third-party cookies, which are bits of code planted in your browser that allow you to be tracked as you move from one participating website to another. The point is to build a profile of your shopping and interests, even though the websites probably don't know your name. (First-party cookies are better because they only identify you to one website, typically for automatic log-in.)

In Internet Explorer, delete the third-party cookies you already have by going to the "Tools" heading and selecting "Internet Options." Under the "general" tab you'll see a heading called "browsing history" where you can delete your existing cookies (along with temporary files, saved passwords, browsing history and information that fills out Web forms for you.)

To limit the number of third-party cookies you get, click the "privacy" tab. There are six levels of security you can choose with a sliding indictor; avoid the "block all cookies" level because it will stop first-party cookies, too. For details on the other security levels, see tinyurl.com/cscfm9.