Why are Babylon toolbar entries in about:config still there after I've uninstalled it?
I deleted the Babylon toolbar a while ago, from both "uninstall program" in Control panel, and from Firefox. I haven't had any issues after that, and my search engine has stayed the same (Google) ever since. Same with the homepage. I thought the Babylon toolbar was gone, but then I went to about:config, and found that there still were some entries there from Babylon toolbar. So I wander: does this mean that the toolbar was never actually gone? Meaning that the toolbar has had access to my browser all the way? It's not possible to remove the about:config entries the "normal" way, but I've read that you have to do some changes to the user.js and pref.js files. Does anyone know anything about this?
All Replies (7)
Hello mountains If you are using other browsers than you also have to remove the babylon toolbar from them too. You can check the complete process in the link given.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remove-babylon-toolbar-home-page-and-search-engine
If it is still present than do the following steps:
Menu > Help > Troubleshooting Info > click Open Containing Folder.
Close Firefox.
Open the pref.js file using a text editor and get rid of those entries.
Also make sure you don't have a user.js file, if you do open that up and look for those entries.
There have been reports of the Skype toolbar installing nasties with it so you might try disabling that and repeating.
Hi, did you remember to restart FF after Resetting the about:config entries?
If you're still having trouble this article should help.
Muhammad_Faizan said
Hello mountains If you are using other browsers than you also have to remove the babylon toolbar from them too. You can check the complete process in the link given. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/remove-babylon-toolbar-home-page-and-search-engine If it is still present than do the following steps: Menu > Help > Troubleshooting Info > click Open Containing Folder. Close Firefox. Open the pref.js file using a text editor and get rid of those entries. Also make sure you don't have a user.js file, if you do open that up and look for those entries. There have been reports of the Skype toolbar installing nasties with it so you might try disabling that and repeating.
Hi! Thank you so much for your reply!:) I'll try your solution. But is it "dangerous" that the babylon toolbar entries have been in about:config after I uninstalled it? I mean: every other trace of the toolbar was gone, and I wasn't directed to babylon search when I searched in the browser. (and babylon toolbar was uninstalled in all other browsers as well). So it isn't like babylon has been able to "monitor" me, or do anything "bad" with my internet browser just because there were some entries in about:config? The whole program/addon would have to be there as well?
Hello Mountains You should scan your system for malwares as described in the articles to make sure that nothing happens in the future or something. Safety should come first in the matter to privacy.
Muhammad_Faizan said
Hello Mountains You should scan your system for malwares as described in the articles to make sure that nothing happens in the future or something. Safety should come first in the matter to privacy.
Hi! Yes, thanks for yur tip!:) I've run Malwarebytes and some other AV as well, and they didn't detect anything. So I guess it's not "dangerous" that these entries are still located in abou:config? Aren't these just "settings" for the toolbar? And when the toolbar is not installed, they can't do any actual harm?:)
Without knowing what the preferences are we can't say if they are "harmful" or not.
You should be able to right-click each of those Babylon preferences and use Reset; once you restart Firefox each of those prefs should be gone - for good. If any should return you might have remnants of the original program installed or the prefs are in a user.js file causing those prefs to reappear in about:config and the prefs.js file. And if you do have a user.js file and didn't add that file yourself, just delete it. It's an optional file that some obnoxious add-ons create to "lock" their settings and keep the user from changing settings.
Typically few extensions remove all or any of the prefs that they create upon removing the extension; the prefs are saved in case the user decides to re-install the extension. And I have yet to see an extension that kept working in any manner once it was removed. At worst, Firefox may be a bit slower upon launch due to the presence of extraneous preferences, but not as much to be all that noticeable.
the-edmeister said
Without knowing what the preferences are we can't say if they are "harmful" or not. You should be able to right-click each of those Babylon preferences and use Reset; once you restart Firefox each of those prefs should be gone - for good. If any should return you might have remnants of the original program installed or the prefs are in a user.js file causing those prefs to reappear in about:config and the prefs.js file. And if you do have a user.js file and didn't add that file yourself, just delete it. It's an optional file that some obnoxious add-ons create to "lock" their settings and keep the user from changing settings. Typically few extensions remove all or any of the prefs that they create upon removing the extension; the prefs are saved in case the user decides to re-install the extension. And I have yet to see an extension that kept working in any manner once it was removed. At worst, Firefox may be a bit slower upon launch due to the presence of extraneous preferences, but not as much to be all that noticeable.
Hi! Thanks for your reply!:) I think the extension created a user.js file, that puts the entries in about:config back even when one removes it. But these entries couldn't be "harmful" since the program/extension isn't present anymore? These are just the settings, aren't they? And they can only be used/be active if the extension is reinstalled?