I found out I'm not the only one. No fix I guess?

Here is a link that might be useful: Huge Print

I never download toolbars, so I have no answers for you. They take up too much screen space. Instead, I use IE which has a search 'bar' next to the url bar. I usually end up just going to Google instead though.

I too won't allow the extraneous toolbars to be installed on my systems. Actually I have no need for them since I use Opera and to search, I can either highlight text, right click and click search or enter the search term in the address bar. I can even choose which search engine to use by merely putting a lettin in front, for instance
g gardenweb
will use google to search for gardenweb
b gardenweb will use bing, an a will use Ask, e for ebay, etc. I don't even need to type the g for google since I have google set for default search engine.

But that's beside the point. As for the question, my only suggestion is that if you have Windows 7, you could try a system restore to a point before the change and see if that makes a difference. Or you could try uninstalling the toolbar, clean your system and install it again.

I assume you're using IE? Have you done any Windows Updates in between? That can often affect things and throw them off like this situation.

cynic, I just highlighted and right clicked a word in your post with IE, and there is a search for it too! Cool! I never knew I could do that.

Huh! I did the same thing----Highlighted the word GardenWeb and right clicked, and a search with Google came up. I use Chrome, with Google as my default search engine.

How cool!! Didn't know that kind of feature was available.
Thanks Cynic!

Oh, I do have my Yahoo toolbar installed. I like it. It has my tabs and my shortcuts to favourite sites there, so I can click on them.

yes most of those things work with all the browsers.

I do not add any toolbars ever. I do have an add on for firefox that I use a lot called go to google, puts the Google icon in my bottom bar and clicking it opens a new tab with the search engine.
but there are lots of search tips and tricks on most all browsers.

I guess what I have isn't a yahoo toolbar.
This is a bookmarks bar.....my most-used sites are on it, as is an Other Bookmarks button where my favourites are stored.