How to remove Web Bar

What is Web Bar

Web Bar is a tricky mixture of both adware and toolbar that is capable of collecting personal data and promoting additional malware infections. Designed by Web Bar Media, it is a legitimately-looking application that is meant to aid instant access to browsers from the desktop, improve searching results and, most importantly, automatically eliminate clutter (cash & other unnecessary data) that will boost up the browsing experience. However, as mentioned above, Web Bar is an adware-type application that broadcasts deceptive advertisements appearing in the right corner of the screen and intentionally forcing users into clicking on them. This action, therefore, may cause redirects to suspicious websites that can spread malicious content. Besides that, it alters browser interface ostensibly providing more convenient homepage and enhanced searching algorithms. Although, a recent investigation showed that Web Bar is able to gather personal data like passwords, browsing history and other user-based information that can be ultimately transferred to third-parties for revenue goals. This subsequently categorizes Web Bar as a browser hijacker and potentially unwanted application that has to be removed from your computer. This is why we created a full guide on how to get rid of this dubious app in the article below.

How Web Bar infected your computer

Adware applications are usually spread via a deceptive method called “bundling”. Bundling is a sneaky infecting option that implies installing additional software alongside the chosen one. To illustrate, frauds combine a couple of applications into a single installation kit. Therefore, when users download an intended program from unofficial websites, they risk catching other unexpected programs that are commonly hidden under “Advanced” or “Custom” segments, that appear at some point in the installation process. Regrettably, most users elect not spending time on reading these offers, thereby skipping them. This way the malicious software gets consequently installed on computers hence threatening your data significantly. Be aware when downloading something from the web. Always check the software for this kind of abuse to not become a victim of extortionists. On top of that, the adware can infect your device when allowing fake push notification on dubious pages that are paid for spreading this kind of software. Web Bar brings no genuine value for users, on the contrary, damaging their activity and has to be urgently uninstalled from your computer by following the viable steps below.

Remove Web Bar manually for free

Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Web Bar removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Web Bar installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Note: Web Bar can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove Web Bar from Control Panel

To start removing Web Bar you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Web Bar”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Remove Web Bar from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Web Bar or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Web Bar from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Web Bar or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Web Bar from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find Web Bar or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Web Bar from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Web Bar from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Web Bar or other suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate Web Bar or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Web Bar

In some cases, Web Bar won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Web Bar. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Web Bar folder and files. This happens because the process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall Web Bar in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove Web Bar or other suspicious program

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Web Bar from Control Panel often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Web Bar related extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Web Bar or other suspicious extension.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose Web Bar or other suspicious extension.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Web Bar from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling the program from Control Panel. To disable Web Bar, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable Web Bar or other suspicious extension.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Web Bar does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find Web Bar or other suspicious extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Web Bar installs a search engine that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab and search engine to default values.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Reset Firefox… button.
4. Click Reset Firefox to confirm.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
2. Type following command del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
3. Start Opera.

Remove following files, folders and registry keys of Web Bar

Files and folders of Web Bar:

%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\Interop.SHDocVw.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\ISightSDK.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\ISightSDK_x64.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\log4net.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\Newtonsoft.Json.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\System.Threading.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\wb.exe
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\2.0.5527.25142\wb.exe.config
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\InstallUtil.InstallLog
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\ISightSDK.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\Microsoft.Win32.TaskScheduler.dll
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\unins000.dat
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\unins000.exe
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\wbsvc.exe
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\wbsvc.exe.config
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\wbsvc.InstallLog
%ProgramFiles%\WebBar\wbsvc.InstallState
%CommonAppData%\InstallSightSDK\
%CommonAppData%\InstallSightSDK\3c99e24ae.dat
%AllUsersProfile%\InstallSightSDK\
%AllUsersProfile%\InstallSightSDK\3c99e24ae.dat
%LocalAppData%\WebBar\
%LocalAppData%\WebBar\wb.app.settings
%LocalAppData%\WebBar\wb.log
%System%\Tasks\WebBarLaunchTask
%System%\Tasks\WebBarUpdateTask

Registry keys of Web Bar:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{0BCE8B0A-1E76-44E5-9909-3CF804D92E4D}_is1
HKLM\SOFTWARE\WebBar
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wbsvc

Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings

For safe and effective browser extension removal use avast! Browser Cleanup utility. Run it with administrator privileges and remove all extensions with bad rating including related to Web Bar. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs, like Web Bar, may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of the anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-virus programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats, like Web Bar.