How to Remove the "Fast Browser Search" Toolbar

The Fast Browser Search Toolbar isn't technically a virus; it's a real toolbar that gets installed when you use certain applications within Facebook. The three that I have found that are typically the culprits are Tattodle, MyTattoo, and My Web Tattoos. The Fast Browser Search Bar is just an annoying toolbar that these applications install that changes your start page and causes a nuisance. It's pretty simple to get rid of and in this article I will walk you through the steps of removing the Fast Browser Search Toolbar from IE and Firefox.

First we will start with how to remove the Toolbar from Firefox, to remove it follow these steps:

1 - Open Firefox
2 - Click Tools
3 - Click Add-ons
4 - Click Extensions
5 - Click Fast Browser Search
6 - Click Uninstall
7 - Close Firefox
8 - Reboot your PC
9 - Open Firefox and verify the toolbar is gone

After your PC reboots you will want to download and run some sort of registry cleaner program to make sure that there are no orphaned objects left in your registry that apply to the Fast Browser Search Toolbar. These orphaned objects might allow it to come back. A good program for this is Crap Cleaner you can get it here.

If you have Internet Explorer you will have to follow different steps. To remove the Fast Browser Search Toolbar in IE you will want to follow these steps:

1 - Open IE
2 - Click Tools
3 - Click Manage Add-ons
4 - Click Enable or Disable Add-ons
5 - Click Fast Browser Search
6 - Click Disable
7 - Close IE
8 - Reboot your PC
9 - Click Start
10 - Click Control Panel
11 - Double Click Programs and Features
12 - Click Fast Browser Search Protection
13 - Click Uninstall
14 - Reboot your PC
15 - Click Start
16 - Click Control Panel
17 - Double Click Programs and Features
18 - Click Fast Browser Search
19 - Click Uninstall
20 - Reboot your PC
21 - Open IE and test to be sure Fast Browser Search is gone from IE

That is all there is to removing the Fast Browser Search toolbar from both IE and Firefox. Make sure you keep in mind some of the options might very slightly depending on the version of Firefox or IE you have. I wrote these instructions using IE7 (IE8 should be very similar though) and Firefox 3.6.13.