Windows 7 HELP Unwanted Tool Bars/Search Engines

[Barb Goss]

I screwed up my laptop with W7 royally. I updated my free virus detector and it downloaded a toolbar I did not want. I uninstalled it, I went up to settings, addons and unchecked it and it was STILL THERE and it would not let me search on Google.

OK so I did a search for Toolbar cleaners and downloaded one. OMG... now I have about 6 of them. I uninstalled, unchecked and they are all still there. The cleaner said it was from Cnet and I thought them a place I could trust. Here is where I downloaded this junky program.
Toolbar Cleaner - CNET Download.com

Needless to say, how can I get rid of these things? There should be a law against anyone putting something on your computer you did not ask for.

I successfully (I think) hide them from Chrome but I can't get rid of them in FireFox... I would love to get rid of them on FF and off my computer.

 

[Adamsappleone]

Hello Barb, Link Removed to Windows 7 Forums,


Do a "System Restore" to a point before you updated your anti-virus.

Keep us updated

Regards
Don

 

[patcooke]

Have a look in control panel, programs - you'll probebly find some/all of them listed there for you to uninstall.

 

[Mitchell_A]

If your "free virus detector" installed toolbars... Honestly it sounds like a pretty cruddy AV, especially considering a lot of AV programs classify toolbars as potentially unwanted programs in scans.

May I suggest a free alternative from Microsoft? Great detection rates with a minimal impact on system performance. No strings (toolbars) attached. Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows

 

[shabakthanai]

Firefox has a plugin called "SearchReset 0.3" that fixes this and many other problems by resetting to 'Default' everything. Then set the defaults the way you want and the problem is fixed. You simply install the plugin. If you want Google as your default Home Page, specify in the Firefox preferences. Your Firefox Browser will open at the Google site.

Anytime you download an open source or free program for a Windows operating system, it will probably have many programs that you don't want, to avoid installing them, look in the lower left corner of the open box, if you see the option "Decline", click on it. When the page you want opens it won't have the option to "Decline", it will probably have a progress bar showing the installation of what you want. Stuff like this don't happen in Linux, because everything is free in Linux distributions. Once you know how to do this, you will stop having problems with people installing unwanted programs on your computer. On any page you see the Decline option, also read the data in the box, most usually there will be pre-checked boxes. By clicking on the pre-checked box, the check mark will disappear. That usually does the same thing. Clicking on "Decline" is much easier. Hope this helps.

I screwed up my laptop with W7 royally. I updated my free virus detector and it downloaded a toolbar I did not want. I uninstalled it, I went up to settings, addons and unchecked it and it was STILL THERE and it would not let me search on Google.

OK so I did a search for Toolbar cleaners and downloaded one. OMG... now I have about 6 of them. I uninstalled, unchecked and they are all still there. The cleaner said it was from Cnet and I thought them a place I could trust. Here is where I downloaded this junky program.
Toolbar Cleaner - CNET Download.com

Needless to say, how can I get rid of these things? There should be a law against anyone putting something on your computer you did not ask for.

I successfully (I think) hide them from Chrome but I can't get rid of them in FireFox... I would love to get rid of them on FF and off my computer.

 

[sirloyne]

May I suggest a free alternative from Microsoft? Great detection rates with a minimal impact on system performance. No strings (toolbars) attached. Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows

There's just that small problem that it failed to earn certification from AV-Test.

AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute: Test Reports

 

[Mitchell_A]

There's just that small problem that it failed to earn certification from AV-Test.

AV-TEST - The Independent IT-Security Institute: Test Reports

Funny you mention that, I'm the original person who brought it to attention here on the forums (before my OP, obviously).

I fully recommend avast! or for the best premium protevtion, ESET SmartSecurity.