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24 May 14 - 04:40 PM (#3628039) Subject: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: GUEST,Uncle_DaveO In recent times (2-3 months??) I get an unrequested and unwanted task-bar at the top of the screen. From the Left, there's an icon of the browser (right now it's SeaMonkey, but it can alternatively be set to one of the two other browsers on my computer) Then to the right of that is an input slot with the words Search the web. Then at the right end are four icons, for Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, and Amazon. I never use this bar, and it's often in the way of the minimize, maximize, and exit buttons that fall on that first line. I don't know how I got it, though I know I never knowingly requested it. It's a pain in the neck, and takes up screen space. I have not discovered how to remove it, if it is even possible to be removed. Can anyone help me delete or minimize this thing? Dave O. |
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24 May 14 - 04:48 PM (#3628041) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: bobad You can try the advice given here:http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/security/3462529/how-remove-unwanted-browser-toolbars/ |
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24 May 14 - 04:54 PM (#3628042) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: McGrath of Harlow It's Malware, and very irritating. You can google and get advice on how to sort it, but the danger is getting stuff that says "load this and it'll fix things. Which make it worse. The only thing that seems to do the job really is to reinstall Windows ( assuming it os Windows you're using, which it probably is, or you wouldn't be getting this), and that's not too hard to do. Or install some better operating system, people say, but I've never gone that far. I can't understand that stuff... |
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24 May 14 - 08:45 PM (#3628085) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Mysha Hi, Well, that makes it information gathering time, I guess: - Is this a computer screen (or phone, tablet, whatnot)? - What operating system do you run? (Windows 7, Windows 8, Apple Mac OS, Apple iOS, Android, Linux, etc.) - What are the other two browsers that are shown that way? - Does it always show, even when no browser is opened, or only with a browser. - Does it have any extra text that gives it a name, or does it maybe have a way to call up a menu with an item "Help", "Info", "Version", or "About", that could tell you what that is? Nowadays, the way to open a menu may be no more than a small cogwheel icon or similar. That should give an rough idea of what it is you're looking at, and how, generally speaking, software is removed from your computer. Bye Mysha |
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25 May 14 - 07:23 AM (#3628143) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Jim Carroll Just got round to sorting this problem out There should be a line of boxes indicating the items nausing up the screen view in top right-hand corner Select them individually and the drop-box will give you the option of either deleting them from immediate view or removing them permanently - take your pick. They will disappear as if by magic - wonderful thing technology, never ceases to amaze me. Jim Carroll |
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26 May 14 - 05:27 AM (#3628242) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: GUEST And finally, getting down to the heart of this, try right-clicking on it to find out what it's called or who claims it. Then look in the Task Manager Processes tab to see if it's a stand-alone. Once you've got a bit of an idea, go into Control Panel, Programs and Features, and see if there's something you didn't want loaded tiself in - and uninstall it. This is the kind of unwanted extra payload companies like CNet add to their shareware downloads to boost their revenues. When loading something from somewhere like that, be careful what you authorise to load or you end up installing stuff which is poorly programmed and generally unwanted. It's a pity nobody's managed to get the Computer Misuse Act working properly. |
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26 May 14 - 07:43 AM (#3628259) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: GUEST,Peter Laban Avast! Browser cleaner (free stand alone download) seems to be effective against those things. Caution when installing free software (often trying to slip through Google chrome, ask taskbars and whatnot) should be you first line of defence but the odd thing I had slip through was effectively removed by avast! Spybot deals well with some of the more malicious ones (babylon can be a pain in the neck for example but spybot manages to you rid from that one well). |
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26 May 14 - 08:38 PM (#3628404) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: GUEST, michaelr You could try going into your browser's preferences and click "restore default" or similar. |
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26 May 14 - 08:56 PM (#3628409) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Andrez Hi, on the PC side of things, I've also found it useful to look in Control panels: Add/remove programs and read down the list of programs. A lot of tool bars like Ask etc, can be seen there. Just select the item and click uninstall, ignoring popups suggesting you should keep the tool bar. A restart after this is also useful too. Hope this helps. Cheers, Andrez |
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27 May 14 - 03:17 PM (#3628589) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Uncle_DaveO I'll try to answer each of the advisory posts above, individually. - Is this a computer screen (or phone, tablet, whatnot)? - What operating system do you run? (Windows 7, Windows 8, Apple Mac OS, Apple iOS, Android, Linux, etc.) Running a Dell Inspiron, running Windows 7. - What are the other two browsers that are shown that way? Actually three: SeaMonkey, FireFox, and IE. All three are infested with this. And Windows 7, through the desktop. - Does it always show, even when no browser is opened, or only with a browser. Always shows, whether desktop, email inbox, or on the web, the sole exception being when I'm using the Command Interface. - Does it have any extra text that gives it a name, or does it maybe have a way to call up a menu with an item "Help", "Info", "Version", or "About", that could tell you what that is? Nowadays, the way to open a menu may be no more than a small cogwheel icon or similar. No name is normally shown, but by right-clicking on the browser icon (SeaMonkey, usually in my case) I get a small dropdown window, "About Web Bar". Clicking on tha t, I get a [Icon Web Bar] Version 2.0 Build 5201.2167 (4/4/2014)Then a copyright notice. |
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27 May 14 - 03:26 PM (#3628590) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Uncle_DaveO Jim Carroll said, in part: e a line of boxes indicating the items nausing up the screen view in top right-hand corner Select them individually and the drop-box will give you the option of either deleting them from immediate view or removing them permanently - take your pick. They will disappear as if by magic - I Right? Left? Clicked the icon for Facebook, and a window told me that Web Bar had stopped responding, and to Enter to close the program. So I did, and--Voila!--it did! We'll see if it comes back. Dave Oesterreich |
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27 May 14 - 08:46 PM (#3628653) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Uncle_DaveO Yes, Web Bar came back, as I had sort of expected. Well, again I rebooted. Went to Control Panel, Programs and features, and clicked Modify/Uninstall. Found the Web Bar line, highlighted it, and (unhopefully) clicked Uninstall. Wonder of wonders, a popup window asked if I really wanted to uninstall the program. Yes, I certainly did. It went through its motions of uninstalling, but told me that, while the program had been uninstalled, the uninstall program had been unable to delete ALL of Web Bar, and I would have to manually delete what was left. (But the Web Bar display itself had disappeared.) Through the Command Interface, I changed to the Program files (and later to the Program Files (x86) directory.) DIR. Sure enough, there were maybe ten or a dozen remaining files (two or three of them EXE files.) I told it to DEL *.* What did it reply? "ACCESS DENIED." I tried ATTRIB -r -i -s *.*. "ACCESS DENIED" again. I wish we had John in Kansas back. Does anyone have any way to gain access to those leftover Web Bar files, so that I can delete them? Dave Oesterreich |
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28 May 14 - 09:02 PM (#3628814) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Mysha Hi, OK: I didn't want to make assumptions regarding the OS etc., but people who did have pretty much given the answer I would have for the information you give: Control Panel ... Regarding administrator access to be able to delete anything and everything: - WIN-key - type "CMD" - enter with Ctrl-Shift-Enter Usual caveats: Close that adminstrator shell immediately after use. Don't even think about leaving it open for some other purpose. If you manage to delete the wrong stuff, it wasn't me. Bye Mysha |
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29 May 14 - 01:39 PM (#3628945) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Uncle_DaveO Mystery Solved In SAFE mode, as Administrator, I was able to go to and DELETE all of the malware and adware scraps left behind by the UNINSTALL programs, without interference from the dreaded ACCESS DENIED message. Dave O. |
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01 Jun 14 - 09:14 AM (#3629505) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Andrez So thats good news then. Great stuff uncle DaveO! For what its worth, I've found that searching for and downloading files from sites other than the main sites (Microsoft, Adobe etc) can lead to co-downloading a toolbar or similar junk ware. A while ago the Ask tool bar got installed. When I deleted it and backtracked, I found I had been downloading a Flash update from a non Adobe source. Watching the screens I found one that asked me in small print at the bottom of one window if I wanted to instal the toolbar. The box was preticked yes and was easily overlooked and so the toolbar got installed. The sneaky buggers! Running a scan of your system with whatever virus or malaware software you have installed can also catch some of these 'nasties'. Cheers, Andrez |
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01 Jun 14 - 11:05 AM (#3629521) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Jim Carroll "Yes, Web Bar came back, as I had sort of expected." I loaded a new freebie on Friday which appeared at the top of the screen repeated the exercise I described and it went. Seems to be the answer, for me anyway Jim Carroll |
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02 Jun 14 - 08:27 AM (#3629709) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: artbrooks There is a well thought-of freeware program called 'Malwarebytes'. I run it every couple of weeks and it purges those little shopping trackers that somehow manage to sneak in. |
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02 Jun 14 - 08:37 AM (#3629711) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: Andrez Another one that I've found useful is SpyBot 1.6.2. There is a later version but I don't like the 'improved' interface. That said, it does the job quite well. Cheers, Andrez |
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02 Nov 14 - 10:49 AM (#3673871) Subject: RE: Tech: Unwanted Taskbar, top of screen From: GUEST,Krissy Scharnhorst Its called Web Bar. The icon looks like a scribbled white W with an orange background. I uninstalled it and the browser disappeared. |