Originally Posted by RedSkwirrell

You should be designing for 800x600 really as there are still too many users that don't even realise they can change their resolution (some who don't even know what it is) and more who belong to a certain age group (that's all I'm saying...) who can't see clearly at 1024x768 anyway.

Unless you're not worried about losing those users, use 800x600.

Nothing you can do about the searchbars or other customisations unless you design the whole site using percentages instead of pixels positioning. That will allow for whatever size browser window the user selects but you'll still lose some content regardless depending on their config.

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Toolbars:-

One thing to tell your Mum about extra toolbars (mentioning specific names is agin forum rules):- Almsot all of 'em are adware / spyware / spam-mail magnets. Electro magnets!
They can be dataminers and key-loggers as well so she might as well invite the script kiddies to send her all their trojans.

Dump the whole useless lot of 'em or at least make sure she's got some top notch filters and uses them regularly.
If she doesn't suffer from the problem already, I venture to suggest that she may well do soon.
I was plagued with it a couple of years ago until someone suggested the cause and it stopped almost immediately when I uninstalled the swines.