# Torching a Browser Add-on **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 15, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torching-a-browser-add-on/647261 "2013-01-15T04:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torching-a-browser-add-on/647261/1 "2013-01-15T04:49:38Z")
Look, I don’t really care that some cool “must-have” items come bundled with, let’s call it, utter crap. I don’t even care that some of these things seem to have an insatiable urge to launch automatically. After spending nearly a decade straight in Asia, I’m fully aware that programmers in South Korea and China simply don’t know a damn thing about creating programs. They’re all about giving the (South Korean/Chinese) consumer what said consumer believes they want because–and you’ll love this–the programmers’ employers essentially own all the media and that media is quite fond–who’d’ve thought it?–of telling the consumer that they want the utter crap the South Korean/Chinese so-called programmers are regurgitating and the consumers believe/buy it. Fine. It’s your area of (ahem) expertise and if it works for you, as in brings in the Won/RMB, more power to you. Well, more power if it weren’t for the simple fact that you’ve already got the lock on that corner of the market. Cool. Be happy. Roll in the dough. Do something so that someone besides Psy can make fun of you (really, please do that so that jackass’s crap falls off the screen). But before you do any of that, do everyone on the planet a favor, if you can manage. What’s the favor? Ah, MAKE THE DAMN ADD-ONS EASY TO DISABLE! This latest lament brought to you because someone decided to bundle TopicTorch with a program that I find I need to use. Okay, now that I have that out of my system, anyone know the easy way to remove that annoying garbage calle topictorch? Honestly, if it didn’t obscure the page I’m trying to read, I’d simply ignore it, but, alas, with this trash, surfing the Internet is like flipping through a photo album where every single picture has the photographer’s thumb in it. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torching-a-browser-add-on/647261/2 "2013-01-15T05:15:38Z")
Sure, no problem. Just download my add-on that comes conveniently bundled with _ForumFire_™. But seriously, assuming you’re talking about Firefox, first try [restarting FF with add-ons disabled](http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Cannot%20uninstall%20an%20add-on), then try removing it. If that doesn’t work, follow the additional instructions in that link. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torching-a-browser-add-on/647261/3 "2013-01-15T05:29:43Z")
Internet Explorer. Why, you may ask, am I using that clunker? Well, once again, I must use some Korean and Chinese sites. Yep, they’re stuck in the dark ages. So many Korean sites simply will not work on anything other than IE. Heck, plenty of them won’t even work on anything newer than IE6! ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torching-a-browser-add-on/647261/4 "2013-01-15T06:40:10Z")
Oh, IE… In that case, just leave it, you’re probably so riddled with spy/mal/ad-ware that one more will hardly matter! Heh, only slightly kidding. But seriously, because it sounds like the above might not be far from the truth, you might really want to nuke it from orbit by [completely resetting IE back to it’s default/freshly-installed state.](http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1222-internet-explorer-reset.html) If you want to try something a little less invasive first, you might try [Microsoft’s Fix-It for addons.](http://support.microsoft.com/mats/ie_freezes_or_crashes/en-us) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torching-a-browser-add-on/647261/5 "2013-02-18T12:24:02Z")
Good news, I guess. It turns out the browser add-on wasn’t exactly an add-on. It seems to have been connected to the wi-fi service of the hostels where I was staying. And, no surprise, only appeared on IE. I really don’t know–nor do I care–how it kept popping up on my system, but now that I’m no longer at those hostels, it’s gone. Related rant: How on Earth has MS managed to keep that POS going?