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Yahoo Toolbar virus Removal

About Yahoo Toolbar virus

Yahoo Toolbar virus refers to a toolbar that belongs to Yahoo. It’s a legitimate browser extension that users may find useful, but it’s also sometimes referred to as a virus by some because of its behaviour. Before proceeding, we should mention that this extension is in no way malicious, nor will it harm your computer. It’s advertised as an extension to help improve the browsing experience but not all users may feel like that is the case. Some users report that they don’t necessarily remember installing it, which means it may use software bundling to install onto users’ computers. Software bundling is essentially adding additional offers (the Yahoo toolbar in this case) to popular freeware. Those offers are set to install alongside the program automatically, unless the user manually prevents them from doing so. Unfortunately, the offers are often hidden, and users are not aware of them being there, which means they don’t deselect them. If you continue reading, we will explain how to prevent these unwanted installations.

When this program installs, you will definitely notice. A toolbar will appear in your browser, and search.yahoo.com will be set as your default search engine. Your permission for these changes is acquired when you install the toolbar, so you won’t necessary be asked to explicitly allow them. This can take some users by surprise, which is why they might think their computers have been infected by some kind of virus. However, that is not the case here. While software bundling is a rather questionable method, it does not necessary mean the program employing it is malicious.

While the Yahoo Toolbar is certainly not malicious, you might have installed it accidentally and do not want to use it. If that is the case, we recommend you simply delete Yahoo Toolbar “virus”. We will explain how to do that in the last section of this report.

How did it install

Since this is a legitimate program, it’s possible you installed it yourself. However, if you had installed it knowingly, you’d likely not be reading this. If do not have recollection of ever adding this extension to your browser, it could have installed alongside some freeware. Free programs oftentimes come together with extra offers (which are usually browser hijackers, adware and other potentially unwanted programs), which are hidden and permitted to install alongside the freeware. To prevent this, you just need to pay attention to how you install freeware. The most important thing you need to do is opt for Advanced (Custom) settings during installations. Those settings will show you a list of added offers, and you will be able to deselect them. We do recommend unchecking all the boxes, even if the offers seem useful. If they chose this rather dubious method to install, you may not want them on your computer.

If you don’t pay attention to how you install programs, your computer might fill up with junk programs quite quickly. In addition to deselecting the extra offers, it may also be helpful to avoid questionable sources. We recommend always sticking to legitimate/trustworthy websites/stores.

Should you delete Yahoo Toolbar “virus”?

As soon as the extension installs, your browser (whether you’re using Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) will have a toolbar added to it. The toolbar has a search box, and various links to certain websites. This allows you to quickly access sites like Facebook, Twitter, your yahoo email, eBay, etc. You will also notice that if you were to search for something via the address bar, you’d be taken to search.yahoo.com. It is a legitimate search engine, but if you did not set it as your default yourself, there is no reason why you should put up with it.

When a browser hijacker takes over a browser, it usually encourages the user to use a questionable search engine which would generate sponsored content, but since Yahoo is legitimate, the search engine will provide legitimate results, so you can safely use it. However, do keep in mind that results may contain sponsored content. If you read Yahoo Privacy Policy, it is clearly stated that:

We trust that Yahoo checks what kind of sponsored content it hosts, so even if you click on one of the sponsored results, you will not be putting your computer in danger.

When it comes to these kinds of extensions, it’s important to familiarize yourself with what kind of information it collects about you, how it stores it and whether it shares it with third-parties. This information should always be available in the Privacy Policy, so we recommend always reading it, or at least skim through it. Yahoo, for example, will collect the queries you search for and your search history, as well as your IP address. In addition, Yahoo also keeps the right to share the information collected from your web browser with its partners. Most search engines and browser extensions do this, but if you are not comfortable with this information collected and shared, Yahoo Toolbar may not be for you.

In the end, whether you keep the toolbar or not depends on whether you will use it. However, if you didn’t install it intentionally, we would not recommend keeping it.

Yahoo Toolbar virus removal

Since as it’s not a virus, nor is it dangerous, anti-malware programs shouldn’t detect it. That means that you will have to uninstall Yahoo Toolbar “virus” yourself. It’s not difficult to do, but if you are unsure about where to start, you are welcome to use the below provided instructions to help you. After you have removed the extension, your browser should go back to normal.

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Quick Menu

Step 1. Uninstall Yahoo Toolbar virus and related programs.

Remove Yahoo Toolbar virus from Windows 8

Right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel choose Programs and Features and select to Uninstall a software.

Uninstall Yahoo Toolbar virus from Windows 7

Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features → Uninstall a program.

Delete Yahoo Toolbar virus from Windows XP

Click Start → Settings → Control Panel. Locate and click → Add or Remove Programs.

Remove Yahoo Toolbar virus from Mac OS X

Click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications. Select applications folder and look for Yahoo Toolbar virus or any other suspicious software. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash, then right click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash.

Step 2. Delete Yahoo Toolbar virus from your browsers

Terminate the unwanted extensions from Internet Explorer
  1. Tap the Gear icon and go to Manage Add-ons.
  2. Pick Toolbars and Extensions and eliminate all suspicious entries (other than Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Oracle or Adobe)
  3. Leave the window.
Change Internet Explorer homepage if it was changed by virus:
  1. Tap the gear icon (menu) on the top right corner of your browser and click Internet Options.
  2. In General Tab remove malicious URL and enter preferable domain name. Press Apply to save changes.
Reset your browser
  1. Click the Gear icon and move to Internet Options.
  2. Open the Advanced tab and press Reset.
  3. Choose Delete personal settings and pick Reset one more time.
  4. Tap Close and leave your browser.
  5. If you were unable to reset your browsers, employ a reputable anti-malware and scan your entire computer with it.
Erase Yahoo Toolbar virus from Google Chrome
  1. Access menu (top right corner of the window) and pick Settings.
  2. Choose Extensions.
  3. Eliminate the suspicious extensions from the list by clicking the Trash bin next to them.
  4. If you are unsure which extensions to remove, you can disable them temporarily.
Reset Google Chrome homepage and default search engine if it was hijacker by virus
  1. Press on menu icon and click Settings.
  2. Look for the “Open a specific page” or “Set Pages” under “On start up” option and click on Set pages.
  3. In another window remove malicious search sites and enter the one that you want to use as your homepage.
  4. Under the Search section choose Manage Search engines. When in Search Engines..., remove malicious search websites. You should leave only Google or your preferred search name.
Reset your browser
  1. If the browser still does not work the way you prefer, you can reset its settings.
  2. Open menu and navigate to Settings.
  3. Press Reset button at the end of the page.
  4. Tap Reset button one more time in the confirmation box.
  5. If you cannot reset the settings, purchase a legitimate anti-malware and scan your PC.
Remove Yahoo Toolbar virus from Mozilla Firefox
  1. In the top right corner of the screen, press menu and choose Add-ons (or tap Ctrl+Shift+A simultaneously).
  2. Move to Extensions and Add-ons list and uninstall all suspicious and unknown entries.
Change Mozilla Firefox homepage if it was changed by virus:
  1. Tap on the menu (top right corner), choose Options.
  2. On General tab delete malicious URL and enter preferable website or click Restore to default.
  3. Press OK to save these changes.
Reset your browser
  1. Open the menu and tap Help button.
  2. Select Troubleshooting Information.
  3. Press Refresh Firefox.
  4. In the confirmation box, click Refresh Firefox once more.
  5. If you are unable to reset Mozilla Firefox, scan your entire computer with a trustworthy anti-malware.
Uninstall Yahoo Toolbar virus from Safari (Mac OS X)
  1. Access the menu.
  2. Pick Preferences.
  3. Go to the Extensions Tab.
  4. Tap the Uninstall button next to the undesirable Yahoo Toolbar virus and get rid of all the other unknown entries as well. If you are unsure whether the extension is reliable or not, simply uncheck the Enable box in order to disable it temporarily.
  5. Restart Safari.
Reset your browser
  1. Tap the menu icon and choose Reset Safari.
  2. Pick the options which you want to reset (often all of them are preselected) and press Reset.
  3. If you cannot reset the browser, scan your whole PC with an authentic malware removal software.

Site Disclaimer

2-remove-virus.com is not sponsored, owned, affiliated, or linked to malware developers or distributors that are referenced in this article. The article does not promote or endorse any type of malware. We aim at providing useful information that will help computer users to detect and eliminate the unwanted malicious programs from their computers. This can be done manually by following the instructions presented in the article or automatically by implementing the suggested anti-malware tools.

The article is only meant to be used for educational purposes. If you follow the instructions given in the article, you agree to be contracted by the disclaimer. We do not guarantee that the artcile will present you with a solution that removes the malign threats completely. Malware changes constantly, which is why, in some cases, it may be difficult to clean the computer fully by using only the manual removal instructions.