Little problem with IE7 bar can you help please

[happyhero]

Hi I am actually trying to help my friend out with his laptop but I have a similar problem.

We are both using XP home and IE 7.

His bars were a mess with loads of search bars etc added (ie when he insatalled AVG that he did not need as he is happy with Google so I unchecked them so that only the Google one is shown and sorted out his link and menu bars and then locked them. The trouble is when we closed the window down and opened a new one it was all back as before, can anyone help, why is it not remembering the previous configeration?

With Mine I keep moving the links to beside my Menu bar ie next to where it has FILE EDIT View etc which is neat and it happily lets me do and then I lock the bars but after closing the window and opening a new one it has moved back. Why will my configuration not stay as set, any ideas.

Any help appreciated.

 

[Alison556]

Could be the toolbar is starting up with the browser. Is it AVG 8 you've installed? I'm not using that, but go into Control Panel, Add/Remove programmes and see if there are any toolbars installed that you don't want. Failing that, go into AVG configuration and see if you can uninstall the toolbars from there - I'm pretty sure that some where along the line, it asks if you want certain functions - like toolbars.

 

[Zampa]

Switch to firefox eh Al?,,,,,,

 

[gcol]

This is where a program called "hijackthis" comes into play - you can permanently stop little persistant programs from running.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
You need to have half an idea what you're doing with it, but I recommend you have a look.
Zampa, those in the know use Firefox.... those that know better, use Opera.

 

[dave.m]

gcol,
That was not a very smart move, pointing people in the direction of Hijackthis logs.
It is a VERY specialist program that should only be used with directions from experts in the field of virus removal.
An inexperienced person trying to do something with it could wreck his computer.

The difficulty many people have in failing to remove a software program is that they try to uninstall it whilst it is still running. The uninstaller starts to run then fails but has probably corrupted the program in the process. To sort a corrupted uninstall out it is often best to reinstall the program and then end the running process in Task Manager before using the Add/Remove section to remove it or use it's uninstaller in the All Programs list.

A handy little program is RevoUninstaller:
http://www.revouninstaller.com/
It checks if a program is running and turns it off before uninstalling it, then it scans the registry for any stray strings left behind and lets you remove them, and it then checks the Programs folder for any links and lets you remove those too.

 

[dave.m]

Happyhero,
Next time you arrange the links and toolbars as you want them, lock the toolbars and then use File -> Close to close the page instead of the red button with the cross in it.
That usually saves all changes to its memory and if it works for you, you can revert back to closing it with the red button.
dave

 

[gcol]

It is a VERY specialist program that should only be used with directions from experts in the field of virus removal.
An inexperienced person trying to do something with it could wreck his computer.

Which is why I said....

You need to have half an idea what you're doing with it, but I recommend you have a look.

Maybe I should have made my point clearer and said "You can cause damage to your pc if you're not sure what you are doing with this program - you have been warned."

Regardless, it's not a difficult program to use and you can generally quite easily find out what you can and can't delete - if you're not sure, you can always google the entry to see what it is.
I totally disagree with your statement that it "should only be used with directions by experts in the field of virus removal."
Thanks for the link to that other program, I'll have a look at that.

EDIT: Well I just checked out that program. It seems that it's just a better alternative of Windows own add/remove programs. This won't pick up the problem programs that hijackthis will.

 

[dave.m]

Edit

 

[happyhero]

Cheers guys, don't worry about the Hijackthis program, I have used it several times before and I will try it on my Friends laptop to try and help him but back to mine, my PC is running great and I have just run Hijack this with the usual results, ie it always finds some things, but nothing major.

But when I organise my bars at the top, I put my links beside my FILE Edit etc bar and all works fine, I then lock and close the way dave.m suggests. Straight after I open a window and the links have moved back underneath the FILE EDIT bar again, this is so annoying as it creates an extra line/bar for the links. Cant understand why it is not working, it always worked in IE6.

 

[dave.m]

did you try my previous post about putting the links where want and them closing by using File -> Close instead of the red button.
dave

 

[happyhero]

did you try my previous post about putting the links where want and them closing by using File -> Close instead of the red button.
dave

Yes Dave.m, exactly but it still moves back. You should try it on yours just to check, because the way it happens makes me think it is a flaw with the program rather than anything else so I would then be waiting for a fix. The reason I think this, is that I have found this on several PC's where my friends have asked me for helpfor other things and in my case I would say my computer is in near tip top status, ie I do not think I have much such as spyware effecting my machine.

 

[dave.m]

You should try it on yours just to check, because the way it happens makes me think it is a flaw with the program rather than anything else

HH,
I have tried my Links in each of, the File Edit toolbar, the Button Toolbar and Google toolbar in turn. I locked the toolbars and closed IE with the red button and when opened they were still there, where I had left them.
This would indicate that there is a problem with your copy of IE and not a general fault that needs a Hotfix.

When you unlock the toolbars do you get a vertical row of four dots at the left hand end of each toolbar and also at the left or the word Links?
If so, when you lock the toolbars do all the rows of dots disappear indicating the toolbars are locked.
dave

 

[dave.m]

Just been having another rummage on the web.
What were the other toolbars etc that you said were installed.

Remove (don't just Hide) them and just leave the IE7 Toolbars and the Google toolbar if happy with that.
Found this
http://tinyurl.com/6bgm8b

Google toolbar installed? If so, disable the Google toolbar from
IE > Tools > Manage add-ons. There may be more than one item to disable.
If the toolbar rearrangement (problem) stops, re-enable the Google toolbar add-ons then go to
http://www.iecustomizer.com/
Click on Tips & Tricks, look for "DisableGoogleBHO.reg" Read the instructions, download and run.

If not caused by the Google toolbar the culprit may be another toolbar and
there may not be a solution other than disabling the toolbar.

dave

 

[happyhero]

Cheers dave.m, you're brilliant, that was it, the google bar was causing it to ignore my changes, so I did what you said and ran that "DisableGoogleBHO.reg" thingy and it seems to have cured it, tested it a few times now. I wont be 100% sure until a few days have gone by because I have had the problem so long now but I am 99% sure it is ok.

I did have another bar, the Wanadoo bar from ages ago when I was with Freeserve but I do not think that was causing any problems as it was unticked. I have disabled it too now.

I would like to get rid of it but I heard it is not so easy and there is no sign of it in add/remove, don't know if you know a way, maybe that revouninstaller yopu mentioned will do it, have not tried that yet.

Anyway many thanks, I am happy now to have got rid of that problem.

As for my friends laptop I will try all that has been said here next time I have hold of it as I am sure some of it will help him too and then either report back here or start a new thread depending where I get to.