Recently I am seeing a lot of software embedding Babylon Toolbar into their setup installer. Some of the example software that contains Babylon Toolbar are SUMo NoRK, AnVir Task Manager, ViStart, and The Web Blocker. In fact CNET Download.com Installer used to have Babylon Toolbar but it has been replaced with Blekko. Whether it is Babylon, Blekko, MyStart by Incredibar or any other brands of toolbar, they are all the same. Some people may label these browser toolbar as virus or trojan but in fact it is simply an advertisement software (adware). Although browser toolbar such as Babylon Toolbar are optional but the biggest problem is they are enabled by default and unless you select the Custom installation method, the installer may not even tell you that they’re going to install the toolbar. So after installing the software that you wanted to install, miraculously your web browsers started to show an extra bar below the address bar and you’re searching on some unknown search engines by default.
I wanted to check out and test the Babylon Toolbar myself to see why are people complaining about the Babylon Toolbar.
As a test, I have 5 latest web browsers (Opera 11.61, Safari 5.1.2, Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox 10.0.2, Google Chrome 17.0.936.65) installed on my test system and then install the Babylon Toolbar from ViStart. First I noticed that SUMo NoRK installer downloads a file called KCBundle_2778.exe from the link below and drops it to temporary folder.
http://www.bestdlzone.com/nsi/nsis-2.46/KCBundle_2778.exe
That file icon is invisible which looks like it is trying to hide itself from non-attentive users. Scanning the file at VirusTotal has a detection ratio of 2 / 43 with Avira and DrWeb detecting it as Adware. The Babylon Toolbar installer doesn’t have a cancel button and the X button to exit the window is also disabled. The only way to skip the installation of Babylon Toolbar is to select Custom installation and uncheck all 3 checkboxes. Take note of the 3 options which are Install Babylon Toolbar, Make Babylon search my homepage on my browsers, and Make Babylon my default search engine at the Babylon Toolbar installer.
SUMo recommends to install Babylon Toolbar by default
After installing the Babylon Toolbar, I noticed that Opera 11.61 and Safari 5.1.2 is safe from the adware while parts of Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox 10.0.2 and Google Chrome 17.0.936.65 contains traces of Babylon Toolbar.
Remove Babylon Toolbar in Internet Explorer 9
When you run Internet Explorer 9 after the installation of Babylon Toolbar, at the bottom of the web browser shows a bar saying “Several add-ons are ready for use”.
If you click the Don’t enable button, the Babylon Toolbar will be disabled. If you’ve accidentally enabled the Babylon Toolbar, you can easily uninstall the Babylon Toolbar by going to Control Panel > Programs and Features > and uninstall Babylon toolbar on IE.
Unfortunately after uninstalling the Babylon toolbar on IE in Programs and Features, the Babylon Search page which resembles the Google Search will still open by itself when you launch Internet Explorer. Moreover when you perform searches from the address bar, Internet Explorer will also search from Babylon Search. This is because the option “Make Babylon search my homepage on my browsers, and Make Babylon my default search engine” from the Babylon Toolbar installer are not uninstalled.
Remove Babylon Search homepage on IE9.
1. In Internet Explorer, press Alt+X, select Internet Options
2. At Home page, click the Use default OR Use blank button and click the OK button.
Remove Babylon default search engine on IE9.
1. In Internet Explorer, press Alt+X and select Manage add-ons
2. Click Search Providers at Add-on Types, select Bing and click the Set as default button.
3. Alternatively you can now select on Search the web (Babylon) and click the Remove button to delete Babylon Search from IE9 Search Providers.
Remove Babylon Toolbar in Firefox 10.0.2
This is one reason why we should always use the latest version because of improvements. Firefox 10 no longer allows automatic installation of add-ons. So when you launch Firefox the first time after installing Babylon Toolbar, you will be prompted a software installation window. Simply click the Cancel button.
However if you’ve accidentally clicked on the Install button, to remove it, press CTRL+SHIFT+A in Firefox, go to Extensions and then click the Remove button for Babylon. The Babylon Toolbar also automatically modifies the default Home Page for Firefox and also setting “Search the web (Babylon) as the default search engine.
Remove Babylon Search homepage on Firefox.
1. In Firefox, click the yellow Firefox button at the top left, go to Options and select Options.
2. At the General tab, click the Restore to Default button and click OK.
Remove Babylon default search engine on Firefox.
1. In Firefox, click the drop down arrow at the Babylon icon and select Manage Search Engines
2. Select Search the web (Babylon) and then click the Remove button.
Remove Babylon Toolbar in 17.0.936.65
Google Chrome is slightly safer because Babylon Toolbar failed to install any extension. However, Babylon Toolbar still manages to modify the default home page to Babylon Search and also the search engine.
Remove Babylon Search homepage on Chrome.
1. In Chrome, click the wrench icon at the top right of the window and select Options
2. At the Basics tab, you can either select “Use the New Tab page” or replace the Open this page URL with the website that you prefer to open when you launch Google Chrome.
Remove Babylon default search engine on Chrome.
1. In Chrome, click the wrench icon at the top right of the window and select Options
2. At the Basics tab, click the Manage search engines… button
3. Set Google, Yahoo or Bing as default search engine by clicking the Make default button.
4. Move the mouse cursor to Search the web (Babylon) and click the X button at the end to remove Babylon from the search engines list.
The methods above should also work on resetting other adwares or toolbars that overwrites your default home page and also search providers. As you can see that many computer users are disgusted with these adware because they don’t provide a complete uninstallation when the user decides to uninstall it. I personally think that including ad-ware into a freeware is fine because the programmer needs to pay the bills but then they could have selected a more genuine adware rather than some pesky ones.
Babylon Toolbar Adware Information and Complete Removal is a post from: Raymond.CC Blog