The Norton toolbar can slow down your browser, making your Internet browsing experience quite literally a drag! In this Techspirited article, along with supporting reasons, we’ll show you how to remove the Norton toolbar in easy-to-follow steps.
Did You Know?
Though Norton is one of the most widely used antivirus software, many users claim that it is ‘sticky’, in that, it refuses to completely uninstall from the system, and leaves behind redundant files.
The digital world is a battlefield. We are all required to wage wars every single day. Our enemies are large in numbers. They include scammers, phishers, spammers, bugs, Trojans, viruses, etc. They all want to destroy what we, the users, prize the most; our digital lives and identities. They come asking for a war, and we have no choice but to let them have it!
In order to win, however, it is important that we recruit only the best soldiers on our side. Antiviruses these days come armed to the hilt, fully prepared to fight till the death for you. They will protect you against many an online threat, and make your online world secure. Most of us put all our hopes on the best antiviruses to protect us and our computers. But what if, in the guise of a friend, a foe enters your PC and slows it down? And what if it’s your very own antivirus that brings it in?
Yes, believe it or not, it does happen. Many of us find that the friend we had trusted has turned traitor, and brought in someone uninvited. But there can be no time to wallow in self-pity. Such a breach of trust calls for strict disciplinary action. In the following sections, we show you how to identify this traitor and destroy the enemy.
Know the Traitor
Norton antivirus is a product of Symantec Corporation. It is available as a box copy, as a download, and as an OEM software. Since its first release back in 1991, it has managed to establish itself as one of the best antivirus software around, and now has a dedicated user base. Many of us rely on it to protect our computers. So why is it that we now call it a traitor? How did this knight in shining armor become a villain? What did it do wrong? The answer is that it brought with it the ‘wrong toolbar’!
Though Norton itself is an amazing antivirus, its toolbar is a menace. It’s an add-on for browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer, and gets automatically installed on the PC along with the installation of Norton 360 or the Norton Internet Security. Amongst other things, it runs a real-time scan on every website that you visit, promising to maximize your online protection. On paper, all this seems very good, but reality tells a very different story. Many users are dissatisfied with its performance, and have decided to get rid of it completely. Perhaps, like us, you are one of those distraught users. But before coming to a decision, it is important that we weigh the good that it does against the bad.
Weighing the Benefits
Now, Symantec Corporation has given us this toolbar in an effort to provide us with added security. It comes equipped with a lot of firepower to ensure that the user stays safe, always. The following are its major features:
- It has anti-phishing protection to keep you safe from fake websites and phishers.
- It automatically verifies popular online shopping and banking websites.
- Its feature called ‘Identity Safe’ encrypts and stores all your personal information such as mobile numbers, account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.
- ‘Identity safe’ even stores your login information to enable you easy access to your favorite websites.
- The automatic ‘form-filling option’ fills in the details, including your personal information on your go ahead, enriching user experience.
Weighing the Harms
All of Norton’s toolbar’s rich features and promises seem to fall apart in the face of its one major drawback; increased page-load time. The real-time scanning of each webpage adds significantly to the time it takes to load a page, making the overall Internet browsing experience very cumbersome. This gets even worse when slower net connections are involved.
Another issue with the toolbar is that it takes up a lot of space on the browser window. Now, on most desktops and laptops, this won’t be a very big deal, but it matters a lot on lower screen sizes, where every pixel counts.
Decision: Detect, Disable, and Destroy
So, if you are like us, and you cannot stand this insubordination, it’s time to get hold of the defaulter and have it thrown out of your system. Though the procedure varies from browser to browser, the basics remain the same. In the following few lines, we will discuss the procedures for having it removed with regards to the three most popular browsers―Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer.
In Firefox
1) Launch your Firefox browser from your desktop.
2) Simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + A to go to the add-ons section.
3) Click on Extensions from the options on the left-hand side of the window.
4) In the list that comes up, scroll till you locate the Norton Toolbar extension.
5) It should show 3 buttons below it to the right-hand side; Options, Disable, and Remove.
6) Click on Disable to stop the toolbar from functioning. If you want to completely remove it, click on remove.
7) Finally, restart your browser. You should find that the toolbar is gone.
In Chrome
1) Launch Chrome from your desktop.
2) Click on the icon showing three parallel horizontal lines on the top-right-hand corner of the browser’s window.
3) From the drop-down list, select Tools. Then, from the new list that comes up, click on Extensions. This will open up a new page with a list of all the installed extensions.
4) Locate the Norton toolbar in the list. It should have two icons below it on the right-hand side: a Checkbox with ‘enable’ printed next to it, and a Trashcan.
5) To disable the toolbar, un-check the check box by clicking on it. If you want to completely remove it from your browser, then click on the Trashcan icon.
6) Lastly, restart your browser and check to see if the toolbar has gone.
In Internet Explorer
1) Open Internet Explorer.
2) Click on the gear icon on the top-right-hand side corner of the IE window.
3) From the drop-down list, select Manage add-ons. Note the name of the Norton toolbar add-on from the list in the new window that opens up. Generally, the name will be Norton.dll. Right click on it to disable the toolbar.
4) To remove it permanently, minimize the browser window, and then from your desktop click on Start. In the Start Search box, type run and hit Enter. This will open the run window. In it, type or copy and paste – regsvr32 /u c:\Program Files\Symantec\norton.dll.
5) In your system tray, click on the Norton icon. This will open a new window. Click on the Settings option and deselect the Phishing Protection check box.
6) Lastly, restart your PC, and check to see if the toolbar has gone.
Thus, in a few easy steps, you can disable or completely remove the Norton toolbar, which will increase browsing speed. However, it is important to understand that the Norton toolbar did what it did for some very good reasons. It might be that removing it will solve your surfing/downloading speed problems, but it will also leave you more exposed and vulnerable to online threats. So think hard before you decide to take the final step.