Hotspot Shield Toolbar

The Hotspot Shield Toolbar is adware that usually is installed with Hotspot Shield, a VPN (or Virtual Private Network) utility that claims to provide networking privacy benefits. In addition to providing redirects to sites affiliated with the AnchorFree company, the Hotspot Shield Toolbar also delivers advertisements through your browser that are not necessarily safe for your PC. Because of these negative characteristics and the fact that the Hotspot Shield Toolbar is promoted through the same sites known for promoting other low-level PC threats and PUPs, SpywareRemove.com malware analysts usually recommend deleting the Hotspot Shield Toolbar with a competent anti-malware program, regardless of whether or not you intend to use Hotspot Shield's data-privacy features.

The Hotspot Shield Toolbar: Advertising So Hot It Could Burn You

The Hotspot Shield Toolbar may be installed separately from Hotspot Shield, but usually is found as part of a normal Hotspot Shield installation, which supposedly uses data encryption features for protecting your browser's data transactions. While such features would be especially useful for PC users who frequent publicly-accessible network hotspots, the price that the Hotspot Shield Toolbar asks you to pay for its services is one that SpywareRemove.com malware researchers consider far too high.

Like many browser toolbars, the Hotspot Shield Toolbar tries to change your homepage and redirect your searches to promote sites that are affiliated with its company. Rather than stopping at that, though, the Hotspot Shield Toolbar also displays advertisements, which may be injected into unrelated Web pages as they're loaded. SpywareRemove.com malware experts also have observed cases of the Hotspot Shield Toolbar gathering user information forcibly and blocking Web content until a prerequisite number of advertisements/data-gathering requests have been completed.

Toning Down the Temperature on a Hotspot Shield Toolbar

Besides its intended functions, the Hotspot Shield Toolbar also has been known to cause crashes from improper installations and may slow down your browser (as a side effect of its advertisements). SpywareRemove.com malware researchers do recommend removing the Hotspot Shield Toolbar as an unnecessary add-on with no advantages for your computer, but suggest using anti-malware products for the job that are designed to remove all browser changes that are associated with similar toolbar-based PC threats. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers note that a little research before installing unusual add-ons usually will help to prevent needless Hotspot Shield Toolbar infections and similar issues. Because the Hotspot Shield Toolbar's site does not, at this point, use drive-by-download exploits of any type, the Hotspot Shield Toolbar usually will need your consent to be installed.