NEW HijackThis automated log analyzer! Get your logs analyzed INSTANTLY!
Overview:
This is marketed as a way to add "skins" to your Internet Explorer and its
toolbars. Most of the ads for this use babes in bikinis with large breasts or
other things you'd want to stare out all day long. It would be perfectly fine if
this program ONLY did this. The problem is it monitors every site you visit and
displays advertisements in its toolbar that fit whatever site you're visiting.
The privacy policy of theirs qualifies as a blooper reel for anybody
concerned about privacy. (It's so bad it's funny) One of the biggest parts
you'll want to pay attention to is:
HOTBAR
COLLECTS AND STORES AGGREGATED INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEB PAGES ITS USERS VIEW
AND THE DATA THEY ENTER IN SEARCH ENGINE SEARCH FIELDS WHILE USING THE SOFTWARE.
HOTBAR USES THIS INFORMATION TO DETERMINE WHICH ADS AND BUTTONS TO DISPLAY ON
YOUR HOTBAR TOOLBARS AND WHICH ADS TO SHOW YOUR BROWSER.
Class: Adware - It displays ads in its toolbar based upon where you're
visiting. Their two biggest advertisement suppliers privacy policies are
something you should read over:
Removal Instructions:
In comparison to something like
Claria this is a rather
easy uninstall. There's a TON of registry keys that this program makes. You
don't HAVE to remove them all. The autorun, processes and DLLs are the top
priority. You'll want to take a look at a number of
registry cleaning applications
to help keep your registry cleaned out.
Destroy Autorun:
Delete the following keys
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\hotbar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\spam blocker
for outlook express
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\weatherontray
Reboot
your system then:
Make sure
you click start --> Run and type in msconfig. Then select the startup tab. Any
references to the processes below should be deleted
End
Processes (may or may not exist):
hbinst.exe
hotbar.exe
hbsrv.exe
weatherontray.exe
Unregister DLLs:
Tip: this is only a list of known files/locations. You will want to do a
search by the name of the file to see if they're on your system.
A while back I wrote a guide to
Register/remove DLL or AX
files which you will need if you don't know how to unregister these files.
Each file
is in several locations so you'll need to search for them and unregister +
delete them in every location you find.
hbcoresrv.dll
hbhostie.dll
hbhostoe.dll
hbhostol.dll
hbinstie.dll
hbtoolbar.dll
dbenderc.dll
contact.dll
wallpaper.dll
hotbar.dll
ctor.dll
Remove Directories:
%appdata%\hotbar
%program_files%\hotbar
%windows%\application data\hotbar
%system%\config\systemprofile\application data\hotbar
%program_files%\hbinst
Clean your Registry:
You should
be back to normal IF this was your only problem. I suggest you post in our HJT
forum since its not likely that this is your only bug.
Read this first
