A trip home to visit family prompted me to write an article on how to get rid of toolbars. I wanted to check my e-mail, so I turned on my mother’s computer and opened her un-updated IE browser. She didn’t just have one toolbar; the toolbars were so numerous her browser looked like the nearly-closed eye of a wasted stoner. I had to do something before they continued south right into the taskbar. Luckily, it was easy to get rid of each toolbar on her machine. Though mostly useless, they were all from legitimate vendors and so her browser was back to normal – and updated – in under ten minutes. You can uninstall legitimate toolbars; however, it is not so easy to get rid of malicious ones – the kind that allow others to spy on you or infect your computer with malware. Getting rid of toolbars that are actually malware isn’t even always possible without wiping your hard drive and starting again. Read my latest article to get rid of these outdated add-ons, as well as how to avoid installing them in the future.