A toolbar by definition is a row of icons on a computer screen that activate commands or functions when clicked. That’s a very convenient way of simplifying complicated tasks! In Firefox, toolbars come in different forms, which are made by different companies or individuals. While most of these toolbars are made for your convenience, mismanaging them can be a pain in the butt! In this post I will show you what happens when you don’t pay attention to toolbars when using firefox.
ScreenShot: A beautifully Toolbar-Overcrowded Firefox Window
As you can see there are 6 toolbars on the image above! And all of them are absolutely unnecessary to a normal user. They occupy 25% of your browser’s window which gives you a limited view at your favorite website.
So how do these toolbars get installed anyway?
Believe me, you installed them and you accepted its terms. let me show you a scenario where you may have installed these toolbars accidentally.
Installing Freewares – Freewares are great – Obviously they’re Free! However most of these freewares are created with a purpose. Some are created for money making virus/malwares, some popularity, or some for promoting some other product of software. Let’s take for example that brothersoft toolbar you can see at the picture above. If you do not know yet, brothersoft is a leading distributor of freewares all over the internet. Any of us may have downloaded something at least once from brothersoft. If you may have notice upon installation there will be an already-checked checkbox indicating whether you would like to include their toolbar installed together with the freeware you are trying to install. The unknowingly user then continues the installation without even bothering to read, hence accepting the terms provided by brothersoft. So what’s with the toolbar? Simple, MONEY! It’s not actually brothersoft’s but conduit’s toolbar., brothersoft earns a dollar per install with it.
How to Manage Your Firefox Toolbars?
- Make a list of you Basic Internet Needs – When i say basic internet needs i mean Search Engines, RSS feeds, Email, Reader, etc… If you are a google fan then google toolbar is a great choice, it will have all it’s services in one toolbar. You wouldn’t want both Yahoo and Google toolbar installed at the same time, right? IT would be redundant and would fill out most of your browser’s space.
- Know EULA – This is by far the most neglected and taken for granted thing in the universe! The EULA (End User License Agreement). Read and understand it before installing any software.
- Remove/Uninstall Unecessary Toolbars – If you have already installed toolbars you don’t need, you can remove them through add/remove programs or going to TOOLS->Add-ons in firefox.
This post only talks about toolbars in Firefox, if you are using Internet explorer, you may go to this page for reference. That’s it! I may have missed out a lot on this topic so feel free to comment below if you have something to add.