Here's my version, tested in vs2008.

- I've changed it to use an external browser
- I've changed it so it doesn't affect selected text at all
- I've changed so that if there's white space to the left, it looks to the right

Imports System
Imports EnvDTE
Imports EnvDTE80
Imports EnvDTE90
Imports System.Diagnostics

Public Module HelpFindInBrowser
Sub HelpFindInBrowser()
Dim s As String = ActiveWindowSelection().Trim()
If s.Length > 0 Then
OpenURL("http://www.google.com/search?q=" & _
Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode(s))
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------

'You will need to add a reference to 'System.Web' for HttpUtility.UrlEncode !!!

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------
End If
End Sub

Private Sub OpenURL(ByVal inURL As String)
'specify a non default browser
'DTE.ExecuteCommand("Tools.Shell", "notepad.exe " & inURL)

'use the default browser:
DTE.ExecuteCommand("nav", inURL & " /ext")

'to have it in a new visual studio window:
'DTE.ItemOperations.Navigate(inURL, EnvDTE.vsNavigateOptions.vsNavigateOptionsNewWindow)

'to have it in the default visual studio browser window:
'DTE.ItemOperations.Navigate(inURL, EnvDTE.vsNavigateOptions.vsNavigateOptionsDefault)
End Sub

Private Function ActiveWindowSelection() As String
If DTE.ActiveWindow.ObjectKind = EnvDTE.Constants.vsWindowKindOutput Then
Return OutputWindowSelection()
End If
If DTE.ActiveWindow.ObjectKind = "{57312C73-6202-49E9-B1E1-40EA1A6DC1F6}" Then
Return HTMLEditorSelection()
End If
Return SelectionText(DTE.ActiveWindow.Selection)
End Function

Private Function HTMLEditorSelection() As String
Dim hw As HTMLWindow = ActiveDocument.ActiveWindow.Object
Dim tw As TextWindow = hw.CurrentTabObject
Return SelectionText(tw.Selection)
End Function

Private Function OutputWindowSelection() As String
Dim w As Window = DTE.Windows.Item(EnvDTE.Constants.vsWindowKindOutput)
Dim ow As OutputWindow = w.Object
Dim owp As OutputWindowPane = ow.OutputWindowPanes.Item(ow.ActivePane.Name)
Return SelectionText(owp.TextDocument.Selection)
End Function

Private Function SelectionText(ByVal sel As EnvDTE.TextSelection) As String
If sel Is Nothing Then
Return ""
End If

Dim s As String

If sel.Text.Length = 0 Then
s = GetWordUnderCursor(sel)
Else
s = sel.Text
End If
'We could limit the text to some minimal size
'If sel.Text.Length <= 2 Then
'Return ""
'End If
Return s
End Function

Private Function GetWordUnderCursor(ByVal sel As EnvDTE.TextSelection) As String
Dim ptStart As EnvDTE.EditPoint = sel.ActivePoint.CreateEditPoint()

Dim theSelectToRight As Boolean = False

If (ptStart.AtStartOfLine) Then
theSelectToRight = True
Else
'See if there's a space to the left of ptStart
'not at start of line, so moving one left is safe
ptStart.CharLeft()

If (ptStart.GetText(1).Trim() = "") Then
theSelectToRight = True
End If

'Back to original position
ptStart.CharRight()
End If

If (Not theSelectToRight) Then
ptStart.WordLeft(1)
End If

Dim ptEnd As EnvDTE.EditPoint = ptStart.CreateEditPoint()
ptEnd.WordRight(1)

Return ptStart.GetText(ptEnd)
End Function

End Module