Hotbar (Hotbar Browser Toolbar; Hotbar Email Toolbar; Hotbar/hostie; Hotbar Travel Comparison Toolbar) is a pair of browser and email toolbars that, as described in Hotbar's EULA, "enhance your Browser and email functionality by adding dynamic services to your toolbar and enabling it to receive various information and services including data, search results and comparative data, links, software and images from the Hotbar and third parties' servers on an ongoing basis." Specifically, the Hotbar toolbars help you decorate your browser and email client with colorful animations, vivid images, and fun emoticons while tracking your online activities for the purpose of delivering targeted pop-up ads to your Desktop.

Hotbar is available as freeware by direct download from Hotbar.com. It also may come bundled with other downloadable software and may even be distributed by email.

How To Tell If Hotbar Is Present On Your System

The Hotbar toolbars, filled with several large vibrant buttons, are visible at the top of your browser and email windows.

How To Get Rid Of Hotbar With With Bazooka Adware And Spyware Scanner

As an alternative to typical anti-spyware utilities, spyware scanners will search your PC for spyware intrusions and alert you to any they find. You then can employ the suggested uninstall method to remove the spyware from your PC.

We've had good luck tracking down Hotbar with an online spyware scanner called Bazooka Adware And Spyware Scanner (www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner). Download the free scanner file to your PC, open it, and then click the Scan button in the resulting window to scan your system for Hotbar and other spyware. If the Bazooka Adware And Spyware Scanner identifies Hotbar or Hotbar.hostie (or both) on your PC, open the Add Or Remove Programs (Add/Remove Programs Properties in Windows Me and Windows 98) dialog box. Search the list of installed components for the following: Web Tools By Hotbar, Outlook Tools By Hotbar, and Shopper Reports. Highlight one of these components and click its corresponding Remove or Add/Remove button. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the uninstall. Repeat the procedure for each Hotbar component that you find in the list of installed programs. Reboot your PC after uninstalling all Hotbar components.

WARNING: The following section includes step-by-step information on how to edit the Windows Registry, a large database containing system and program settings that are essential to how the OS (operating system) operates. Follow Registry-editing instructions to the letter and be sure to make a backup of your Registry before you begin. (Registry errors can render your computer inoperable if you don't have a backup.) This procedure differs depending on the OS you use. For more information on backing up and editing the Registry, see these articles: "Protect Yourself" and "Register Here."

How To Get Rid Of Hotbar Manually

Hotbar has a free uninstaller utility that you can download from hotbar.com/downloads/hbuninst.exe. To run it, simply close all the windows in which Hotbar is running and double-click the downloaded Hbuninst.exe file. The uninstaller works in the background and notifies you to reboot your PC when its job is finished.

After running the uninstall utility, you should flush out any remaining residue from the Registry and the file system. Open the Registry Editor and locate and delete the following keys and values (if present):

· HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\HOTBAR

· HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER\EXPLORER BARS\{BECAFC17-BAF9-11D4-B492-00D0B77F0A6D}

· HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER\EXPLORER BARS\{FF6B2FD5-093C-4D4F-BB98-5641130A9DE6}

· HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER\TOOLBAR\SHELLBROWSER\{B195B3B3-8A05-11D3-97A4-0004ACA6948E}

· HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER\TOOLBAR\WEBBROWSER\{B195B3B3-8A05-11D3-97A4-0004ACA6948E}

· HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\
INTERNET SETTINGS\USER AGENT\Hotbar 3.0

· HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\SHOPPERREPORT

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\HOTBAR

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\INTERNET EXPLORER\TOOLBAR\{B195B3B3-8A05-11D3-97A4-0004ACA6948E}

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\
EXPLORER\BROWSER HELPER OBJECTS\{B195B3B3-8A05-11D3-97A4-0004ACA6948E}

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\
INTERNET SETTINGS\USER AGENT\POST PLATFORM\Hotbar 3.0

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\RUN\
HOTBAR

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\RUN\
SPAMBLOCKERFOROUTLOOKEXPRESSHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\RUN\WEATHERONTRAY

· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\
UNINSTALL\HOTBAR UNINSTALL

· HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SHOPPERREPORT

· HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\HOTBAR

You can close the Registry Editor when you finish.

Finally, open the Windows search utility to locate and delete the following files (if present): Contact.dll, Ctor.dll, Dbenderc.dll, Hbcoresrv.dll, Hbhostie.dll, Hbhostoe.dll, Hbhostol.dll, Hbinstie.dll, Hbtoolbar.dll, Hotbar.dll, and Wallpaper.dll. You also should search for and delete any folder that refers to Hotbar or Hbinst. Reboot the PC after deleting the files.