The AVG Toolbar is a new tool which works together with the AVG LinkScanner and checks search results of the supported Internet search engines (Yahoo!, Google, MSN). If you select to install the toolbar during the installation of AVG 8.0 Free Edition, it will be added into your Internet Explorer and/or Mozilla Firefox.
AVG Toolbar contains also a Yahoo! search box, which is an integral part of the toolbar and can not be removed separately. Just like any search toolbar, it has the capability to record previous searched keywords and clicking the drop down box will reveal them. Sometimes we’d like to clear the search history because it is just not nice to let other people who is using your computer to know what you were looking for.
I tried looking at every options in AVG Toolbar but couldn’t find a way to clear the search history. I went to AVG frequently asked question page and found the answer. Here’s how to remove the previous searched keywords in AVG Toolbar for both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
In order to clear the search history in AVG Toolbar for Mozilla Firefox:
1. Open Firefox
2. Type about:config at the address bar and hit enter.
3. Type avg.toolbar.searchHistory at the filter and hit enter.
4. Double click the avg.toolbar.searchHistory line.
5. Delete the contents of the opened box and click OK.
In order to clear the search history in AVG Toolbar for Internet Explorer:
1. Close Internet Explorer
2. Go to Control Panel > Folder Options > go to View tab > select Show hidden files and folders. Click OK.
3. In Windows XP, you’ll need to delete the file COMBOSEARCH.acs. The file is located in C:\Documents and Settings\
For Windows Vista, the COMBOSEARCH.acs file will be located in C:\Users\
It is easy to delete the search history in AVG Toolbar but it’s very troublesome. Please take note that the above solution is to only delete search history but not disabling it. The only way to disable the search history is to not use the search feature in AVG Toolbar or uninstall it. If you decide that you do not wish to use the toolbar, you can either skip its installation during the AVG installation process, or disable it manually in your Internet browser. Disabling or uninstalling the AVG Toolbar has no negative effect on the level of security provided by AVG Free Edition. The only consequence of missing toolbar is an absence of some of the options, and less verbose information about the threats found by the AVG LinkScanner. The main settings of the LinkScanner component can be still configured in AVG Free User Interface.
Let’s hope that AVG will make it simpler for their users in future version of its toolbar.