How do I get rid of a sidebar that pop ups no matter what webpage I am searching?
I have a sidebar that pop up on the left hand side of my screen whenever I am on the internet. It does contains a X and will close with you press that, but reopens as soon as I click on something else. It is very annoying and gets in the way of looking at pages. I've accidentally clicked on it and it takes me to weird websites. It is not listed in my toolbars or sidebars as an option to turn off. My virus detector hasn't detected any viruses. I have Firefox version 23 and Windows 7
I have a copy of the screenshot, but not sure how to post it in this question. Any suggestions will help.
Thank you, Jess
Chosen solution
After the system level cleaning, you might still have a browser extension that wasn't removed. You can disable ALL nonessential or unrecognized extensions here -- if in doubt, disable:
orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Extensions category
Usually a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.
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Here is a image of what the sidebar looks like:
Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.
All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender: Home Page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
Chosen Solution
After the system level cleaning, you might still have a browser extension that wasn't removed. You can disable ALL nonessential or unrecognized extensions here -- if in doubt, disable:
orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons > Extensions category
Usually a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.