New
#1
Hello Scooter,
From this it appears to be a add-on or toolbar for your web browser. I would recommend to uninstall or remove it since it's basically just adware.
PC Hell: How to Remove HotBar
Adware.Hotbar | Symantec
Hope this helps,
Shawn
So if My anti-virus removes it... is the traces in my computer's brain still? (Registry?) haha
From the PC Hell link above:
You can remove HotBar through Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, however it leaves behind some tracks that will have to be removed manually. After removing the program through the Add/Remove section, you'll want to run Regedit and remove the following keys in the registry.
HKey_Current_User\Software\Hotbar
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\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform\Hotbar 3.0
You can also delete the 'HotBar 3.0' string from
HKey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent
If you decide to make changes to the registry I'd suggest you back it up first.
Registry - Backup and Restore
You picked up some malware on your travels. A GuyOnline scammers have been quick to capitalize on what will undoubtedly be one of the most significant news events this year: the death of Osama bin Laden.
Within hours of the news that the al-Qaeda leader had been killed by U.S. forces on Sunday, malware was found on sites optimized to show up on Web searches related to the event and in scams on Facebook.
Also, the blog site of a Twitter user based in Pakistan who now has more than 66,000 followers and who was posting tweets as the attack on bin Laden was happening, apparently was popular enough that his blog site was compromised and malware was embedded on it, according to a blog post from security firm Websense.
Visitors to the blog would not immediately have noticed anything as the malware was installed as a drive-by download without the visitor having to do anything, said Patrik Runald, senior manager of security research at Websense Security Labs. The malware searched for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Java, and Adobe Reader that have been patched by the vendors, he said. If a hole was found, a display would pop up advertising "Windows Recover" a fake system scanner for Windows that tries to trick people into paying for software they don't need, according to Runald, who said it is unclear how long the blog was compromised before it was cleaned up around 8 a.m. PT today.
Around the Web, image searches and items labeled as video are proving particularly problematic as people are drawn to visual images of the terrorist leader. At least two domains were found to be serving up fake antivirus rogueware called "Best Antivirus 2011" on searches for "Osama bin Laden body" on a Google image search in Spanish, according to a blog post by Kaspersky Lab.
Another troublesome site involves a graphic doctored image of bin Laden. A Spanish language site was found to be displaying a photo that is supposed to be a shot of bin Laden after he was killed, accompanied by a news story about his death and what looks like a video. When the purported Flash Player window is clicked on, a message is shown prompting the visitor to update a VLC media player plug-in to view the video, Zscaler said in a blog post. Instead, an adware tool known as "hotbar" but labeled "XvidSetup.exe" is downloaded, the cloud security provider warned.