SPYBOT WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR LATEST FIREFOX4 ( MOZILLA FIREFOX DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION WEB BROWSER

Question

THIS MORNING YOUR ADVERT FOR FIREFOX 4 APPEARED . I TRIED 3 TIMES TO DOWN LOAD YOUR MOZILLA FIREFOX DOWNLOAD LATEST VERSION WEB BROWSER > . EACH TIME SPYBOT SHOWED ENCOUNTERED & TERMINATED A PROCESS THAT IS LISTED AS PART OF A MALICIOUS SOFTWARE ) ( PUBLISHER PINBALL CORPORATION ) 9 IDENTIFIED AS PBHOTBAR . SEARCH ASSISTANT ) ( FOR OVER FIVE YEARS NOW I HAVE HAD INSTALLED SPYBOT & AVG > ( I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY DOWNLOAD PROBLEMS WITH YOUR PRODUCTS PLEASE ADVISE ??? )

Answer 1

First, as a matter of etiquette, typing ALL CAPS on-line generally indicates that you are yelling at someone. Please use upper and lower case when posting. '''''Thanks'''''
Your User-agent string indicates that you have the latest version, Firefox 4.0.1 installed; to see your User-agent string reported when you posted your question, click on "More system details..." to the right of your original post, scroll to the bottom of that display it shows:<br /><br />
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0.1) Gecko/20100101 '''''<u>Firefox/4.0.1</u>'''''
To check your version click the Firefox button > Help > About Firefox (or on the Menu Bar click Help > About Firefox) to see a display of your Firefox version. See: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Finding+your+Firefox+version
A little information about anti-virus/anti-spyware.
First rule in using anti-virus/anti-spyware applications/programs: Never have more than one in active/real-time/on-access state checking everything as your are on-line. One can interfere with the other and the result can be less rather than more protection. Check your settings in Spybot and AVG and be sure that only one is set up for active/real-time/on-access scanning. If you have questions about how to check, go to the forums for Spybot and AVG and ask for assistance.
Second rule. No single anti-virus/anti-spyware application is 100% correct, 100% of the time. Some virus-signatures can result in "false positives". However, using Google I found that Spybot and McAfee both added "PBHotbar.SearchAssistant" to their '''''<u>adware</u>''''' definitions on March 9, 2011. (See: https://computersavvy.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/new-spybot-%E2%80%93-search-destroy-definition-update-available-2011-03-09/ and http://www.nutnworks.com/forums/threads/33947-Re-McAfee-Updates ) There may be other firms that added a malware/virus definition for "PBHotbar.SearchAssistant" under another name. '''''<u>Adware</u>''''' is designed to track your on-line activities, in this case your search activity, for the purpose of delivery advertising on pages that you visit. Somewhat benign, but do you want someone silently tracking your internet activity? Your decision as to whether to keep that Add-on.