Yahoo Toolbar - this is freaky

[Richard D]

Opened my IE this morning and found the Yahoo Toolbar. I didn't install it, didn't ask for it, didn't do anything that should have gotten it there. Then I got this message, emailed to me:


You may have noticed a powerful tool from Yahoo! that resides on your browser. It’s called the Yahoo! Toolbar and it was voted CNET Editors’ Choice in November 2004.

So what’s that mean for you?

It means you have more control over your web browsing experience. And since the Yahoo! Toolbar is customizable, you get quick and easy access to all the things that interest you the most.

(snip)
We think you’ll agree that while the Yahoo! Toolbar may look like a small change to your browser, it will change the way you browse in a very big way. Try it for yourself.

Happy surfing!

The Yahoo! Toolbar Team

Don’t see the Yahoo! Toolbar in your browser? Click here to get it now.

[Oreo]

1. Did you install Adobe Acrobat or any other software recently?

A lot of places are bundling Yahoo Toolbar with their software. Just uninstall it and get Spybot or something else to check for any spyware

[Hav]

4. Oh thx.

That must have been it in my case.

[Hav]

2. .

Remove it, just out of spite ;).
Hm wait a minute, it's on this computer as well and I don't know why. :eyes:

[wtmusic]

3. Something tells me

it's only available on IE for Windows. Another reason to avoid both.

[AllyCat]

9. That's true. I have Firefox and have not had a problem with Hijacks

in a long, long time. I do tinker around (dangerously) with HiJackThis too to remove other crap that just shows up no matter what.

[wtmusic]

21. any javascript incompatibility problems?

I switched to Safari for a while but discovered certain aspects of how it handled javascript were outside the IE/Navigator mold

[AllyCat]

22. I haven't had anything come up.

Not that knowledgeable about how things run, but the only trouble I've had was with my SBC email account (runs on Yahoo). It needed a patch that I downloaded ages ago to run on Mozilla's Thunderbird email account.

Otherwise, I've been problem-free with FF.

[charlie]

23. Few, if any

Firefox and Moz even emulate proprietary IE objects and methods like document.all, innerHTML, and offsetXXX. Most of the problems anymore are from wonky code that uses userAgent sniffing to separate browsers.

[charlie]

5. Install or upgrade Flash lately?

The toolbar is part of the default installation now, you have to deliberately set it to not add Yahoo if you don't want it.

[Richard D]

8. OK, that's it.

Upgraded Flash last night to view a friends site.
But I didn't give my email address out. That part is really weird.

[AllyCat]

11. Data miners are really good at what they do.

Don't need to give out personal info for them to find it anyway.

Spybot S/D, Adaware S/E, and a non-IE browser are your friends.

[ChickMagic]

20. Yep

I noticed that too. Luckily.

[AllyCat]

6. If you didn't install bundled software, you have a hijack

Go to www.majorgeeks.com for lots of info and support on getting rid of this kind of thing as well as advice for protecting your system from other hijackers, spyware, adware, and just plain garbage.

[Halliburton]

7. just use mozilla firefox

these things won't happen

[Mr_Spock]

10. Even updating Yahoo messenger installs it

There is NO WAY not to install it either. It makes me HATE Yahoo for doing this. I installed Google voluntarily and I DON'T appreciate Yahoo doing this to try to compete - it INFURIATES me!!

[damntexdem]

16. I've hated Yahoo for a long time.

This just adds to my ire. I'm glad I use Firefox at home.

I always urge everyone not to use Yahoo -- that way I won't end up on lists based on Yahoo. Eschew Yahoo!

[Mutley]

12. Get firefox.

It's like heaven!

[Angry Girl]

13. SCREW the greedy and unethical Microsoft. GET FIREFOX!

Microsoft software is crap anyway: bloated, sloppy, costly....

[MyNameGoesHere]

15. oy

[CountAllVotes]

14. download and run counterspy

It has a 15 day free trial. It found a ugly trojan on my computer and the AV, nor spybot, not ad-aware had found it.

It is now gone.

It can be downloaded at download.com

:kick:

[idiosyncratic]

17. Get the free Opera browser. It is powerful and sophistcated.

I've used Opera for almost three years and never get spyware or anything else on my computer unless I specifically download it.

It has Mouse Gestures and Notes and too many features to mention here . . . and it is a smaller download than Firefox.

[idiosyncratic]

18. Sorry dupe . . . DU hiccupped . . . :-(

[idiosyncratic]

19. Sorry dupe . . .

[unhappycamper]

24. Third (or fouth or fifth) the Firefox recommendation. About the only place

I can't use it is with PayPal - it seems to barf on ff 1.0.6. (I'll install 1.0.7 this weekend.)

Another good tip is to get, install, and use Spybot Search and Destroy. It has a feature that alerts you everytime something is trying to make a change to your system, and gives you the choice to permit or deny the change. I suspect SB woulda caught your toolbar change.

[idiosyncratic]

25. You can use the Opera browser with PayPal.

Now that Opera is free, even diehard Firefox users don't have a good reason to not give it a try.

I bank using Opera, pay my credit card bills using Opera, in fact I haven't had to open an alternate browser for months now that the Geocaching.com site fixed their email link.