What are Toolbars and are They Good or Bad?

Toolbars are usually attached atop your browser (IE, Firefox etc). You see them when you open your browser. They come with a search box for easy searching and other links. There are legitimate toolbars and malicious toolbars.

The legitimate ones are designed to make your surfing experience easier and more pleasant. They have search boxes for searches, links to email or other shortcuts that you may want to use. Some include built in Pop-up Blockers. Many antivirus software makers all have them, McAfee, Norton, AVG.

As far as Security goes, the Toolbars will not overly enhance your security. Your Antivirus software and Antispyware programs do the job of protecting your system. Most browsers already come with Pop-up Blockers. If you use Verizon or Comcast and enjoy their toolbar, those are safe as well but don't install other toolbars then. There is no need to clutter up your browser with meaningless toolbars and there are plenty of them out there to do it. From Facebook apps toolbars to Weather toolbars, there is no shortage of them on the Internet.


There are also Virus/Infections that disguise themselves as helpful toolbars. Shopping Deal Toolbars are a common one. Remember once a virus gets into your system it can open up all sorts of other doors for more infections to come creeping into your PC wreaking havoc along he way. Hotbar is another common infection. Virus and Infection designers have taken advantage of legitimate toolbars just as they have done with legitimate Security software and made these infections appear as helpful or legitimate. If you don't' recognize the name don't install it. If it looks suspicious don't install it. If you are still not sure you can always Google it and see what other people think or have discovered about it.

If you need to remove or uninstall toolbars the process can be easy, provided it is not malicious software. Most toolbars can be uninstalled via Add/remove Programs (XP) Programs and Features (Vista & 7). Locate the toolbar in the program list and uninstall. They can also usually be disabled via Internet Explorer. Simply click on Tools, then Toolbars and you can un-check the ones you don't want to show on your page.

The only Toolbars you should be using are either Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, or other popular industry leaders. Again most of these toolbars are of a personal preference if you want to use them. I prefer the Internet to be lean and mean. If you do use Toolbars just be very careful about the ones you choose to install. Personally I don't find them overly helpful with the exception of the Google toolbar.

If you do use toolbars, just be sure that it is a legitimate toolbar. I do not recommend installing Toolbars other than the main ones I described above. (Google, Yahoo) Use others at your own risk. Having one toolbar or two is fine but anything over that is excessive and will only slow down your internet surfing.

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the week

Steve
www.zolexpc.com