How to Remove Topic Torch from your Internet Browser

At first I thought that it was something that Simon (the tech bloke behind Wizzley) had installed onto the site.  When you're writing here every waking hour, you tend to notice him experimenting and testing a lot.

I wrinkled up my nose.  The Topic Torch toolbar looked tacky and it didn't at all fit in with the ethos of Wizzley.  It behaved aggressively.  Turning it off was all well and good, until you clicked onto a new webpage. Then it was back, covering all just above the fold and being generally annoying and THERE.

I resolved to tell him as much, if Simon didn't realize for himself and take it off. He usually does reverse pretty quickly when he discerns things aren't right; and he generally has better taste than the rest of us for deciding what fits the bill. 

I should have sussed from that that it was nothing to do with Wizzley, especially when it remained. But I was lulled into a false conclusion by the fact that it was the only website displaying the Topic Torch toolbar.

It was also the only website for which I have Adblock disabled; and therein lies the clue.

The Topic Torch toolbar exists for one reason only.  It's not the enlightenment promised on their website (whatever that means), nor the super fast search speeds also claimed.

It is to display advertizements on a banner, tailored to your interests, based on your web browsing.  So far so Google. 

They use the same information to feed back to their files. This can be sold on to companies who love the free market research. Ok, also like Google.  But at least we have a choice in whether we are giving data to the Big G. 

All over the internet right now, quite cyber savvy people are wondering where Topic Torch's banner came from.  We're all aware enough to watch out for hidden toolbars in downloads; and I, for one, know that I did not invite Topic Torch in.

No doubt during the next few weeks that tactic will be cracked and become commonplace.  But the forums are only just starting to fill up with startled queries.  The earliest that I found was November 4th 2012.  It's a brand new spyware then.

But not a new spyware company.

It took some finding to track down the add-on application that was responsible for the Topic Torch banner.  That is because it's not listed as such.

I even visited the Topic Torch website looking for answers, but their Terms of Service and Settings pages were blank.  I later realized that this was because they are both loaded with spyware too. My Adblock Plus had wiped them away.

However, if I had been able to read them, I would have read a familiar name - Yontoo.  I should have recognized the modus operandi.

Yontoo Layers has been flagged up as a spyware toolbar for years.   There's great debate in geek circles over how dangerous it actually is. It's wormed past all of my firewalls and checked out as safe in my anti-virus software. It can be useful for a variety of internet activities. 

But its insidious way of getting onto your system rings too many alarm bells; as does the fact that it's definitely loaded with adware. 

It works in precisely the same way as Topic Torch, but people have learned to beware it.  The clever thing is that, as computer users rush to their extensions lists and program files, they stop at T.  Not finding Topic Torch there, they don't tend to scroll on down.

Yontoo will be right at the bottom, unless you're in the habit of collecting applications beginning with Z.  It is this which you will be targeting as you begin the process of uninstalling Topic Torch.

• Click on the Chrome Menu on the right hand side of your top toolbar.

The icon is a wrench if you're American and a spanner if you're British.  It's the same tool, we just all stubbornly call it different things; and who knows what it's called in other countries. (Though no doubt the comments down below will soon inform me.)

If there is no image of a Tool-For-Tightening-And-Loosening-Nuts, then select the three horizontal, parallel lines icon instead.

• Select Extensions
• Find Yontoo and click the trash bin icon alongside it.

• Click on the Tools icon, in the top right hand corner (shaped like a cog)
• Select 'Manage Add-Ons'
• Find the heading 'Yontoo LLC'
• Highlight each item underneath that heading and press the disable button

While this will block Topic Torch, I can't see how you actually remove it in IE!  If anyone knows, please do comment, so that I can add it in.

As far as I can ascertain, only Firefox, Google and Safari have been targeted by this spyware banner.  If more browsers are added, I'll update the guide accordingly.

By now the Topic Torch Toolbar should have disappeared from the foot of your browser window. But this only means that you've cut the head off the beast.  The body is still in your program files.

Warning:  If you like other Yontoo applications, stop now.  The following instructions will destroy them too. 

Personally, I tend not to bother with any of the above, because anything that I want to uninstall, I do through CCleaner anyway. 

Which is precisely how I removed Yontoo, and Topic Torch, from my own hard-drive.

And that's it!  Job's a good 'un, Topic Torch and its parent Yontoo are now both gone away.

Now we just need to work out how they got there in the first place...