Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Browser toolbars come from two places: the browser, and addons or toolbars you ask for. It's easy to ask for toolbars without realizing it.
Where did this new toolbar in my browser? I didn't ask for it.
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Actually it's likely that you did.
Before you protest that you most certainly did not, I need to point out one of the most annoying techniques being used to deploy more and more and more toolbars.
It all counts on your not paying close attention.
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This afternoon I was installing an update to the popular Java runtime, which is software that is used by some websites to provide rich functionality beyond just displaying static pages as I do here.
The update consisted of the normal installation program which proceeded to ask me the normal installation things and agreeing to the software license. (Another annoyance, but that's for another day.)
Then I came to this screen:
I almost without thinking hit Next.
In doing so, I would have been asking to have the Yahoo toolbar installed.
Note the circled item - the option to install the Yahoo toolbar is selected by default. If you're not paying attention and just trying to get the update installed and get on with your life, it's trivially easy to miss the fact that you are asking for a toolbar to be installed.
Personally, I find this very annoying.
I have nothing against the Yahoo toolbar. It's a fine toolbar, and if you want what it offers you should absolutely run out an install it. I don't.
I have nothing against Java or Sun, really. Java also serves an important role for web sites that want to do more than just display pages.
What annoys me is:
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And this installation is not the only case. It's not uncommon at all to see installations that include, somewhere along the line, an "option" to install a toolbar or some other unrelated software.
Why? Typically because they get paid to do so. I can even kinda, sorta understand it for free software as a way to recoup some of the expenses involved, but the practice is certainly not limited to only those.
So aside from griping about the practices of some software vendors, what's the real take-away here?
Pay attention.
Understand what it is you're installing, and read each step of the installation options. You might find that you're about to "ask" for something you didn't really want at all.
Article C3710 - April 25, 2009 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
December 6, 2011 4:45 AM
If you install the latest version of Yahoo Messenger, you get the toolbar. No option to 'not' install it, and if you uninstall what looks like the toolbar from Programs - you still have the toolbar, but all the 'images' in Yahoo Messenger stop working.
Another gripe - every single time I start Yahoo Messenger it suggests I 'upgrade' to IE9. I have IE9, I simply don't use it (I prefer Firefox). I have my suspicions that this 'upgrade' is bloated with Yahoo's "helpful additions", which are precisely what I'm trying to get rid of in the first place.
December 6, 2011 9:36 AM
@Bob
Unfortunately, keeping Internet Explorer updated is still best
practice, even though you use another browser. More on this
article:
Am I at Risk for Internet Explorer vulnerabilities even though I use a different browser?
December 8, 2011 6:56 AM
@Connie
Sorry if there is any misunderstanding. My IE9 is updated by Microsoft through automatic updates.
Yahoo Messenger wants me to follow a web-link. Either Yahoo cannot recognize I already have IE9, or it recognizes I don't have it's bloatware installed into my IE9. Either way, it's constant 'reminders' are annoying and frustrating.
December 8, 2011 9:47 AM
@Bob
I hear you on that!
June 8, 2012 7:00 AM
An update in my never-ending battle against toolbars I don't want.
No only have I failed to find a way to get rid of the Yahoo toolbar that doesn't break every other Yahoo feature, I have found an 'incompatibility' with another toolbar - one I thankfully can remove.
Something happens between the Yahoo toolbar and the ZoneAlarm toolbar, to render the top inch (depending on the size of monitor) of every web-page unusable. The inch that a lot of sites use for tabs, logins, and other usefull links.
Clicking on this 'inch' achieves nothing. Right-clicking on this 'inch' asks you to configure the Yahoo toolbar. It is as if the Yahoo toolbar "spills over" into the useable area of the browser and prevents any interaction.