# WR toolbar



## geve

Hello,

I had installed the WR toolbar on my office computer, and recently I received several notifications from the antivirus (Symantec) about a spyware in the toolbar. 
For the moment, I uninstalled the toolbar (I'm not even supposed to install anything without asking first...) 
But I know "you hate spywares too"  so I was wondering, is there something in the toolbar that could be considered as a spyware by a touchy antivirus?


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## mkellogg

Hi geve,

The anti-virus program is badly done.   It is falsely claiming that the WR toolbar has a virus or something.  

The problem comes from the fact that the WR toolbar uses a tool that many "evil" toolbars use as well.  Instead of Symantec doing the real work to try to find the difference, they just claim that all these toolbars have viruses!  Hint, hint, Symantec/Norton is not the best anti-virus out there!

I use the free "AVG Free Edition" myself.


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## geve

Thank you for your answer, Mike! I suspected it might be something like that. 

I use AVG Free Edition on my personal computer, too. 
I don't get to choose the antivirus program on my professional computer.


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## cuchuflete

I've scanned the WR Toolbars with ClamXav, a good freeware antivirus engine and application for the Mac, and found no infections.


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## maxiogee

What is this WR Toolbar?
Is it a Windozy affair, or can we few, we happy few, we band of Macintoshers avail of it?


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## cuchuflete

Have a look here Tony-  It works in my Mac/Firefox setup.
http://www.wordreference.com/english/Toolbar.asp


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## danielfranco

I saw that firefox has this extension to point and control-click any word on a page and it'll search it on one of those "answer" and cyberpedia pages... Could this feature be added to the WR toolbar? That would be so awesome!!
If not, oh well, I can deal...

EDIT: Wait, wait... That didn't sound like what I was thinking at the time. Sorry. I meant to say: Could a _*similar*_ feature be added to the WR toolbar, that one could CNTL-click any word on a page and get directed to the pertinent page of the *WR dictionaries*? (Now it makes more sense, sorry again.)


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## maxiogee

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Have a look here Tony-  It works in my Mac/Firefox setup.
> http://www.wordreference.com/english/Toolbar.asp



Interesting.
It opens the result 'behind' my open window, and I can't see it. Is there a setting I need to adjust?


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## Astotxo

Same problem

WARNING: ProxyAV has detected a virus in this
file!

and, like Geve, I cannot choose the antivirus in my professional computer. Is there any other way?

Thanks


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## mkellogg

Most antivirus / anti-adware programs allow you to manually decide if you want to remove something or not.

Hopefully, I will be able to get Symantec to actually look at the WR toolbar and realize that it causes no harm.


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## maxiogee

As the latest version of Firefox is treating me to no end of hiccoughs on my Mac, I've gone back to Safari, and will have to forego the WR tool. I still have both the Systran widget which does loads of translation - and the Oxford American English Dictionary/Thesaurus widget which have served me reasonably well as instant resources.


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## emma42

I can't find the avg free edition.  I keep being asked to pay.  Help?


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## cuchuflete

emma42 said:
			
		

> I can't find the avg free edition.  I keep being asked to pay.  Help?


 Have a look here:



free....


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## timpeac

I don't think Cuchu's link works.

http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html


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## emma42

Thank you, Mister Tim and Mister Cuchu.


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## cuchuflete

timpeac said:
			
		

> I don't think Cuchu's link works.
> http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html


  Could it be that I forgot to pay for the link?


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## timpeac

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Could it be that I forgot to pay for the link?


Dunno - but it seems to work now so whether it was you or me is now lost in the mists of time.


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## texasweed

Thanks to this thread I now have a new antivirus (which detected a trojan horse not found by Norton...) and the very handy WR toolbar.  

I don't know whether this is the place to ask   but everytime I *close* a PM window intending to go back to the forums, IE crashes on me. Does this happen to others?


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## Velour

mkellogg said:


> Hi geve,
> 
> The anti-virus program is badly done.  It is falsely claiming that the WR toolbar has a virus or something.
> 
> The problem comes from the fact that the WR toolbar uses a tool that many "evil" toolbars use as well. Instead of Symantec doing the real work to try to find the difference, they just claim that all these toolbars have viruses! Hint, hint, Symantec/Norton is not the best anti-virus out there!
> 
> I use the free "AVG Free Edition" myself.


The problem with what you said is that the AVG Anti-Spyware program, from the very company you recommended in your post, also says that the WordReference Toolbar is spyware. SpyBot and Lavasoft Ad-Aware both say the same. Therefore whether Symantec is incompetent or not is not really the issue, since this clearly can't be written off as a Norton thing. Personally, I found it increasingly difficult to ignore so many programs that I've been trusting for so many years warning me about this toolbar that I finally made the decision to uninstall it. I'm uncomfortable with this apparent "everyone's wrong but me" mentality. It doesn't seem as if you're searching for a solution, but simply pointing fingers at other companies. 

I'm a nice girl, really, and I'm only hoping for a solution to this toolbar problem that has been haunting us for months, so I hope you won't feel offended by my post. Thanks.


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## geve

Velour said:


> The problem with what you said is that the AVG Anti-Spyware program, from the very company you recommended in your post, also says that the WordReference Toolbar is spyware.


I've had both AVG and the WR toolbar installed on my personal laptop for a year or so, and never had any problem.


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## Velour

geve said:


> I've had both AVG and the WR toolbar installed on my personal laptop for a year or so, and never had any problem.


In my post, I mentioned AVG Anti-Spyware, not AVG Anti-Virus, the program they linked you to above. Same company, two different programs, one used to combat spyware, the other to combat viruses. My point is that even AVG, a company mkellogg trusts, seems to find spyware in the toolbar. AVG _Anti-Virus_ isn't created to find spyware, only viruses, so naturally on your computer an alarm wouldn't be triggered by this program for the WR Toolbar, which does not have a virus, but _is_ alleged to have spyware.

Also, in regard to what you said in an earlier post about AVG finding a virus that Symantec hadn't: _all_ programs miss some things, which is why it's always recommended to have more than one anti-virus and anti-spyware program installed.







Velour said:


> The problem with what you said is that the *AVG Anti-Spyware* program, from the very company you recommended in your post, also says that the WordReference Toolbar is spyware.


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## mkellogg

Do as you wish.  I understand that you are reluctant to take my word for it.  You really don't know me.  

I bet none of those anti-spyware programs identify the toolbar as "WordReference toolbar".  Why not?  Because they are identifying it as a different toolbar than the one that it actually is.


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## thegoddess2007

Trying to uninstall WR from add/remove programs and having no luck. I have tried everything..I think..Can someone help? /thanks so much


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## texasweed

To uninstall: go to start -> my computer -> local disc -> program files. Right click and delete.

Mine is under "wordreferenceEnFr"

I'm still regularly sent to Spanish translations though...


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## thegoddess2007

Still can't find it, even in the files. But it's still there on the control panel!! Seems very strange..Still need help..thanks so much


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## mkellogg

Hi goddess,

You say "Still can't find it".  What can't you find?

Even more questions:
What happens when you click uninstall? Does it say anything?
Do you still see the toolbar? Is it enabled in Internet Explorer or have you disabled it? (You might need to have it enabled to uninstall it.)


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## thegoddess2007

ok, here goes. I tried to uninstall the WR toolbar from the Add/Remove programs, and nothing happened. So I tried to do as recommended, and remove it from the local disc, and it was not listed there. So as annoyed as I was, I shut the computer off, and today,not sure how or why, but it is no longer listed on the Add/Remove Program list. So..it's gone, not sure where it went, but I am happy. Thank you so much for all the advice.


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## roxcyn

Instead of installing the toolbar, why not install the search box for Firefox?  If you do a search in fire fox it will give you the link to add it to the search box.  Also, Internet explorer also has an option to add it to Internet Explorer 7, where you can add it to the search box.  That way, you can avoid installing any extra toolbar. 

Regardless if it has sypware or not, I HATE TOOLBARS!  Sorry, I had to say that in capitals, I hate them so much. They take extra space from the screen and they just don't provide much benefit.  So I would highly suggest adding it to the search box to Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Pablo


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## Velour

roxcyn said:


> Instead of installing the toolbar, why not install the search box for Firefox? If you do a search in fire fox it will give you the link to add it to the search box. Also, Internet explorer also has an option to add it to Internet Explorer 7, where you can add it to the search box. That way, you can avoid installing any extra toolbar.
> 
> Regardless if it has sypware or not, I HATE TOOLBARS! Sorry, I had to say that in capitals, I hate them so much. They take extra space from the screen and they just don't provide much benefit. So I would highly suggest adding it to the search box to Internet Explorer or Firefox.
> 
> Pablo


 Thanks for the helpful suggestion. I like this site most for translations, but the toolbar lately, well...meh. In any case, I'm far from the biggest fan of toolbars for the same reason you mentioned above regarding the hogging of screen space. Adding it to the browser's search provider box allows quick, easy access to the excellent translation tool without all the hassles and concerns I mentioned in previous posts. I was also able to get rid of the Dictionary.com toolbar, which was an eyesore by default but always refused to be wallpapered like other normal toolbars. Only my Google toolbar will remain with me forever....


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## patalarga

Resuscitating this old thread: two days ago my anti-virus program (Avast) picked up a virus in my computer's memory.  The virus was found in wordreferenceEnEs.dll.  I deleted Word Reference from my IE tool bar but have not been able to delete the wordreference.exe file.  My computer won't allow it.  It shows up on my list of programs although I deleted all files, including the WR hidden files.

That's me.  My partner also uses WR on her IE toolbar.  Today her system crashed due to what her antivirus program, AVG 7.5, told her was a virus in WR.  Same deal, wordreferenceEnEs.dll.  She uninstalled WR and was successful.

OK, folks, what's going on?  And how do I uninstall WR.exe if my computer won't allow it?


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## mkellogg

Hi patalarga,

First, let me repeat that the toolbar doesn't really contain any viruses.  It is just incorrectly marked as a virus.

Where is this wordreference.exe program? (In Program Files/WordReference...?)
What error message do you get when you try to delete it?
If it says that "the program is in use", then close all Internet Explorer windows and then try to delete it.
Also, I don't understand what "list of programs" are you talking about.

And finally, I highly recommend adding WordReference to your IE7 or Firefox search box.  It accomplishes much of the same as the toolbar does.

Mike


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## patalarga

mkellogg said:


> Hi patalarga,
> 
> First, let me repeat that the toolbar doesn't really contain any viruses.  It is just incorrectly marked as a virus.
> 
> Where is this wordreference.exe program? (In Program Files/WordReference...?)
> What error message do you get when you try to delete it?
> If it says that "the program is in use", then close all Internet Explorer windows and then try to delete it.
> Also, I don't understand what "list of programs" are you talking about.
> 
> And finally, I highly recommend adding WordReference to your IE7 or Firefox search box.  It accomplishes much of the same as the toolbar does.
> 
> Mike



The WREsEn.exe file shows up in Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs.  It's still there this morning.

When I click on it to uninstall, I get no error message.  I get no response at all.  It will not uninstall.

I understand that you believe that there is no virus in the toolbar.  Nevertheless, something must be going on somewhere that causes two people in the same household to receive the same message.  My antivirus program actually isolated the "virus" in its isolation location.  

Please help me delete WR so that I can either reinstall it safely or not.

Thanks.


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## mgwls

If you have already deleted the toolbar files manually (or if the antivirus has), this may be the reason why the uninstaller program doesn't work. It may be unable to find some necessary files or even the main program itself in order to proceed with the uninstall. However, even if the WR toolbar entry appears on the Add and Remove programs menu, if the files aren't on the folder they are supposed to be if they were installed, then there's nothing to worry about.

By the way, it is normal that the same antivirus shows the same message on different computers, you should try to double check that the virus really does exist with another antivirus.


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## patalarga

mgwls said:


> By the way, it is normal that the same antivirus shows the same message on different computers, you should try to double check that the virus really does exist with another antivirus.



Yes, I understand that.  The "virus" was detected by two different antivirus programs: Avast and AVG7.5.

In the past, another virus attached itself to an .exe file on my computer and the Add/Remove was not able to delete that .exe file.  Hence my concern with this one.

Gracias y un saludo cordial desde México.


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## mkellogg

patalarga said:


> The WREsEn.exe file shows up in Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs.  It's still there this morning.



So the only thing you see is the entry in Add/Remove Programs?
I have two suggestions to try.
1. Reinstall the toolbar, then immediately uninstall it.
2. Follow the directions on Microsoft's site for removing unwanted entries in the Add/Remove Programs list.

I hope one of those two work.


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## patalarga

mkellogg said:


> So the only thing you see is the entry in Add/Remove Programs?
> I have two suggestions to try.
> 1. Reinstall the toolbar, then immediately uninstall it.
> 
> I hope one of those two work.


#1 worked, thanks very much.  I appreciate your help.


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## Velour

mkellogg said:


> Hi patalarga,
> 
> First, let me repeat that the toolbar doesn't really contain any viruses. It is just incorrectly marked as a virus.


Is it at all possible that someone hacked into the site and put undesirable things into the file? Do you ever view the server logs for suspicious activity and test the software for viruses and spyware? Now someone is saying that the toolbar _is_ being specifically named, and now the warnings have gone from spyware to virus... 



(If it seems like I'm lurking around on this toolbar thread only like a creepy toolbar hater, it's just because I got subscribed to this thread by default and keep getting e-mails on it when people post.)


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