If having the AVG Toolbar installed on my machine degrades its performance if I rely on Avast Free as my AV program?
If AVG Toolbar has any merits, especially with Avast Free already installed and running?
Today AVG Toolbar announced it had upgraded itself. I’ve never seen hide nor hair of the program on my screen until the upgrade. Apparently it was bundled with an Irfanview upgrade I downloaded on 7/5/12. When I search my history, I find that if may be a ‘gift’ from afreecodec.com where I apparently downloaded Irfanview.
My bad, I didn’t watch carefully enough for the opt-out box(s) when I did the download/install.
I’m open to education and suggestions regarding uninstalling the AVG Toolbar.
This just serves as a reminder to all of us to always select the custom option when installing any software, and read each window before clicking next. While the AVG toolbar will not hurt anything if you leave it installed, it is really of no benefit either. If it were me, I would uninstall it.
As DBone posted, it shouldn’t hurt to have the AVG toolbar though it may slow your computer in a very minimum amount.
But, what I want to know is why is it there in the first place?
Since you are not using AVG anti-virus but instead Avast, did you have AVG prior to Avast, and if so, how was it uninstalled?
I ask this because if you had AVG anti-virus and it was not uninstalled properly, there will be remnants of AVG left behind that could very well cause problems in the future if not already. And this could be why the toolbar is there.
Just for the record, I am still running XP Pro/SP3
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’d post this on AVG’s forum page, but I need to register and give them personal information to post. I am already provoked at wasting much of a day trying to uninstall their toolbar. I don’t want to further encourage them or ‘establish a prior relationship’ with them by registering.
As I implied, I ‘caught’ the toolbar in an install, probably plugins for Irfanview (a wonderful program.) I have never installed AVG’s AV program on my computer.
Using ZTreeWin (another indispensable program) I did a global display and scrolled down to the date/time when the install happened, so I can see the files it installed.
I followed this protocol I found via Goole to no apparent avail:
1 Go to the control panel and remove it, skip the page for feedback.
2 Go to browser, it will still be there, open tools and manager add-ons, then hit search providers, select another and set as default, you can then highlight avg and select remove at the bottom.
3 Last step you have to go to google or something, open tools, internet options and set that page as your default start page.
Should be good to go.
butters71
Updated - 20th Apr
I used Add/Remove Programs and it appears to have worked, sort-of, I will explain below. I just checked after a reboot and it is not in the list.
For SM there was on ‘search providers’ under add-ons but I removed the AVG Toolbar and I do not find it now in Tools/Add-ons Manager.
I never opened the toolbar. It never reset my preferences. There was nothing to do here.
However, after the reboot I again logged my C drive and the same AVG files are still there. Here is the path
C:…LocalSettings\Temp
Is this MS protecting me from myself? Do I have to clear my Temp Files to get rid of it?
I am concerned that there may also be Registry entries that the uninstall failed to clear.
If there are no entries found in “about.config” when I search ‘avg’ save a browser history entry, is this a good sign?
Since I’m not using AVG, is there any merit in checking them and asking it to fix the problem, or is HiJackThis way too far over the hill into the commercial realm so that this will only compound my troubles?
Does anyone understand how the marketing team at a firm like AVG retains their jobs when they so clearly sabotage their own products with moves like this? When I finished Add/Remove I was redirected to AVG’s webpage to a “Sorry you left us” page. I even filled in the first part of a ‘here’s why’ query, but quit after I suggested they sack the Director of Marketing.
AdwCleaner is a small programme developed by a malware expert… None of the tools I use come bundled with anything… If they were it would defeat the purpose of using them ;D
You can “Fix” both of the above HJT entries you posted.
Though, the tool Essexboy suggested you use should have done that for you.
Plus, you wouldn’t have needed to go through REGEDIT which is something that one shouldn’t do unless one completely understands what one is doing. Deleting, or just changing the wrong entry in some way, could make your computer into an expensive doorstop.
Add/Remove never completely removes everything; only enough to stop whatever it is from working as it should. There always be leftover debris.
Essexboy, please correct me if I am wrong on any of the above.