Browser Cleaners Reviewed

Question

Browser toolbars and add-ons can be a nuisance, and I generally avoid them like the plague. I have had several such obnoxious programs on my XP system over the years, but was never sure I had entirely uninstalled them. So I thought I would test a few programs that claim to clean out the junk from one's browser. (Hat tip to ky331 for some links to such programs). This is my first test:

1) avast! Browser Cleanup (standalone utility)

Download: http://www.avast.com/store

Claims to delete "pesky and unwanted toolbars and plug-ins" from browsers. It's a free 2.45 MB download, which runs quickly - about 15 seconds to scan my IE8 and Firefox on an XP system. The "summary" window that opens presents all add-ons with a supposedly poor reputation, and offers the option to remove them. In my case, it found only ewidoOnlineScan Control.

On the left are browser tabs which give more details. Under IE were listed about two dozen activeX controls and modules, all of which I have used in the past, mostly for online scans (from PCPitstop, Panda, ESET, Ewido, Emsisoft, Dell, etc). Most appeared legit to me, although the user rating column suggested otherwise in a several cases. Some I had no memory of using, such as "get_atlcom.class"(apparently related to Adobe Reader, which I abandoned long ago) or "QDiagDWCUpdateObj Class" or "Software Center Control". There is a Disable button next to each entry.

The interesting thing is that none of these objects are listed in my IE8>Tools>Manage Add-ons.

Under the Firefox tab, nothing was listed. It does not appear to examine Opera.

The above findings were with the "Exclude add-ons with a good rating" option checked, which is the default. When unchecked, it will list things like the WOT Toolbar, avast!WebRep and NoScript, and a bunch of MS files.

No instance of anything related to the ASK toolbar was detected. However the Google Toolbar was detected, with a 5-star approval rating! I "disabled" it, even though I thought I had uninstalled it completely years ago. (So much for "user ratings")!

Impressions:

This is a simple, quick and intuitive utility. I suspect that most (if not all) of what it detected on my system were orphans and traces, not active add-ons or toolbars. Nothing detected that I disabled impaired any of my browsers, and I like that I can reverse anything I disabled.

For those experiencing browser problems, this is a utility worth trying.

joe53 · Answer

2) Multi-Toolbar Remover 1.0 A free 261 KB standalone (Zipfile) utility from AutoClean. This version is dated January, 2010. Download: http://autoclean.computersitter.com/downloads It claims to remove only a select number of  Toolbars:- Google Toolbar and QuickSearch Box- Yahoo! Toolbar- AOL Toolbar- AOL Radio Toolbar- AOL News Toolbar- AOL Email Toolbar- AOL TalkTalk Toolbar- Comcast Toolbar- ASK Toolbar My results using XP: Unfortunately when I attempted to run it, I got a message that 'The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable.' When I closed that box, I got the message 'Removal Complete'. So I have no idea what, if anything, this program detected or deleted. No adverse effects on any of my browsers, so far. Recommendation: None. (Possibly useful, seems benign, but very little documentation).

joe53 · Answer

4) ToolbarCleaner 1.1 A free utility to clean 'almost any toolbar and BHO' from Chrome, IE and Firefox browsers. Also includes a startup manager. A 0.98MB download, from: http://toolbarcleaner.com/about-toolbar-cleaner/ My results on XP: During installation, it sets 'MyStart' as homepage by default. (I unchecked this option, as well as the option to install an 'Anti-phishing Domain Advisor'.) Not an auspicious start! It detected a lot of things to select for deletion, but did not distinguish between the good, the bad, and the ugly. In IE, it found WOT, Search Helper, DriveLetterAccess, and avast! WebRep (all good). In Firefox, it found, among other things, the following plugins: -Foxit Reader (long since deleted from this system): marked for removal-getPlus for Adobe 162102 (a download manager installed with Adobe Flash, apparently)-Google Update (now that's ugly, in my books!): marked for removal Interestingly, it found 4 files for Google Chrome, a browser which has never been installed on this system! (How does this stuff for Google even get on my PC? As all the regulars here know, I've always considered Google software evil! I suppose it is possible that non-Google programs installed them.) All files were removed. The Startup manager only detected my AV, firewall, and WinPatrol. WinPatrol, on the other hand, detects 9 third party programs/services that launch at startup, and as such is the better tool for this. Impressions:Considering that I've now run several browser cleaners prior to this one, I'm impressed at the number of remnants it found. None were malicious, and most detections were legit/useful. This is a browser cleaner that needs to be used with care.

joe53 · Answer

3) AdwCleaner 2.112 Previously reviewed here:http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/f/3522/t/19492822.aspx Impressions: Recommended.

joe53 · Answer

Conclusions I must say I've never had a troublesome toolbar/BHO I could not uninstall/disable via the usual means, but I have no doubt they exist. As such, this review does not really test the efficacy of these free products at removing the 'nasties'.  I really only assessed their usability, as I haven't had an unwanted toolbar/add-on in years. Nobody will likely ever need 4 browser cleaners (and hopefully not even one!) However, based on usability, if my browsers ever did act up, I would opt for AdwCleaner or the avast! cleaner to fix them, in that order.

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Browser Cleaners Reviewed

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