06 November, 2012

by Updated on 06 November, 2012 Leave a Comment

Remove Unwanted Browser Toolbars and Extension Which Do Not Have Uninstall Option

When you install new free software, most of the time, it's off you to install some extra stuff that includes a browser toolbar. Toolbars like Ask.com, Babylon, Google Toolbar, Yahoo! Toolbar and many other services get installed into your browser without your permission and you start using it unknowingly.

Some toolbars like Google Toolbar may come to your use but others like Babylon and Ask.com toolbars are a more problematic threat to your privacy and security as well. They eat up the important browser space and system resources as well. Toolbars also interfere with your default search provider as well as your homepage URL.


The most irritating thing about all the unwanted toolbar is, they do not have any uninstall option. Even you try to uninstall from the default windows 'Add or Remove Programs' applet, some toolbar only has 'Repair' or 'Modify' option and there is no option to uninstall. So the 'Toolbar Cleaner' comes handy and is really useful to remove/uninstall all types of the browser toolbar.

How to Uninstall / Remove Browser Toolbars

Before you try any third-party tool, you should try uninstalling the toolbar from the browser itself. Try to find out if the toolbar has the uninstall option.
  • Just 'Right-Click' on the toolbar and you may have a Remove / Uninstall option.
  • If you do not have, you can try the software uninstall managers like 'Revo Uninstaller'. 
  • If nothing comes work, try 'Toolbar Cleaner'.

Toolbar Cleaner is free software that can remove all types of the browser toolbar. The developer claims to remove around 15K toolbar every day.
browser-toolbar-cleaner

Toolbar Cleaner can remove toolbars from popular browsers like Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Opera.
It also offers to completely remove some browser extensions that do not have any 'delete' option.

For example, the 'Avast WebRep' extension is getting installed on your computer after you install Free Avast antivirus and it does not have any option to delete. You can only disable the extension, but with the help of 'Toolbar Cleaner,' you can easily delete such extensions.



How To Remove / Uninstall Extensions

There is an alternative method for Firefox users to remove unwanted extensions that do not have removed the option.
troubleshoot-firefox

  • Go to 'Help' menu >> Troubleshoot Information. 
  • A new tab will open. There in the 'Application basics' category, click on 'Show Folder' button.
  • A folder will open and find a folder named 'Extensions'. This 'Extensions' folder contains all the files about the installed extension.
  • Most of the time, these files have a similar name of extensions, but sometimes may have alpha-numeric names. Identify the file and delete it.
This will delete the unwanted extension. You can use this folder also to take a backup of extensions for Firefox.
The folder that you have opened from 'Open Folder' button, also contains the backup of bookmarks you saved in Firefox.

How to Reset Search Preferences

The installed extensions and toolbar may sometime alter the default search providers for Firefox. Sometimes it completely mess-up the things. So the extension 'Search Reset' will help you to reset the search providers in Firefox to default.
About The Author
Passionate Technology Blogger. Not a profession. Find only real life useful and simplified Tech articles, How-To's on TopTrix.

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