1. Right click a blank part of the Windows Taskbar and then click Task Manager.
   
   
2. Open the Processes tab and find Bearshare.exe in the list.
   
   
3. Right click it and then click Kill Process.
   
   
4. Next, in Firefox go to Tools | Add-ons | Extensions and remove BearShare MEDIABAR. You might also see it listed as "BMB".

If you don't see it in there, go to Add/Remove Programs and you should be able to remove it from there.

Next, reboot. This is very important in order to remove the Windows Registry entries, so don't skip this step.

If your search engine has been hijacked as well, do the following:

• In the location bar, type about:config and hit Enter.
  
  
• In the filter at the top, type: keyword.URL
  
  
• Double click it and remove whatever's in there and replace it with http://www.google.com/search?q=
  

The URL to add in "keyword.URL" becomes a link in this post, so right click it and choose "Copy Link Location" to copy it to the Windows clipboard. Then hit CTRL+V to paste it. Saves you having to type the whole thing.

To reset your home page, do the following.

• Go to the site you want to set as your homepage.
  
  
• Click the orange Firefox button and go to Options | Options | General.
  
  
• Make sure it says "Show My Homepage" in the first dropdown menu.
  
  
• Click the button called "Use Current Pages" to set the homepage to the one you have on the screen.
  

Neither bearshare or bmb appear in the task manager

OK, then skip steps 1, 2 & 3

No I've tried all you suggest, I can't see bearshare or bmb any where.

Here's the FAQ which explains how to uninstall Bearshare:
http://www.bearshare.com/help.html#20

The toolbar appears to be called MediaBar which you can remove via Add/Remove Programs.

Bearshare has its own uninstaller which you can find via Start, then Programs and then Bearshare.

Yes got it ok many thanks for all your time and care. Keith

Did it fix the problem?

yes thank you

OK.

Could you please click the "Solved It" button next to the post which solved the problem for you? This will help others searching for a solution to the same question.

Thanks.

You need to uninstall mediabar

uninstall medibar! now i can finally change my homepage from bearshare but bearshare is still installed and i cant uninstall it...

This worked great, did not realize that mediabar was affiliated with bearshare. fixed my issue, thank you!