the article assumes that the x to close the toolbar is part of the toolbar itself.<p>it's not.<p>the x is a new feature of IE 8 and it is used to make IE not load the plugin responsible for drawing that toolbar.<p>So when you press the X, the toolbar isn't loaded next time you start IE, but isn't notified of this either.<p>The enhanced reporting features are part of the Google Toolbar BOH (browser helper object) which is not disabled when you click that X. The reason for that is the fact that IE as host of these plugins can't be 100% sure that the BOH and the toolbar are related.<p>Earlier versions of IE didn't have the X so there was just one way to turn the toolbar and/or reporting off: To use the methods provided by the toolbar itself (using the uninstaller or to disable the enhanced reporting using the toolbars official UI).<p>This current situation, IMHO, is just a consequence of the toolbar not being updated to the new situation (i.e. the x being drawn by IE).<p>Based on the technical knowledge I would not jump ahead and assume malice (on this part at least - the crappy taskbar button is another issue).<p>The irony behind this is the fact that IE added the x as a usability enhancement to deal with the growing amount of auto-installed toolbars and now they created a real mess due to not correctly track dependencies between different plugins.