The Return of PrivBar (x86 and x64)

I recently switched internet service providers, not realizing when I did that PrivBar and MakeMeAdmin would suddenly disappear from the internet when they un-provisioned my space on their servers.  Oops.

To try to compensate you for the inconvenience, PrivBar is now available once again, now in x86 and x64 versions.  So if you are running an x64 version of Windows (XP or higher), you can now use PrivBar in all Explorer and Internet Explorer windows.  (It will also tell you whether that particular instance is running 32-bit or 64-bit code.)

Note that by default on x64, Explorer.exe is 64-bit, but IE is 32-bit; but there are, in fact, 32-bit and 64-bit versions of both programs.  A 32-bit process can load only 32-bit DLLs, and a 64-bit process can load only 64-bit DLLs.  The main IE icons you see point to the 32-bit versions, because the vast majority of IE add-ons, ActiveX controls, etc., are 32-bit:  the 64-bit version of IE cannot load those ActiveX controls, so sites like youtube don't do much.

Click here for the PrivBar binaries; click here if you want the slightly-updated source code and Visual Studio 2008 project files.

Instructions:

  1. Extract PrivBar.dll from the zip file and put it somewhere where all users have Read access to it.  If you're running an x64 version of Windows, extract PrivBarX64.dll to the same location.
  2. At a command prompt running as admin, run
    regsvr32 path\PrivBar.dll
    where path is the folder location to which you extracted PrivBar.dll.  If you're running x64, do the same with PrivBarX64.dll.  Note that you have to be running as (fully-elevated) admin in order to do this, and that trying to register the x64 version on 32-bit Windows will fail.

No need for the extra .reg file anymore.  You can now enable the bar in Explorer or in IE by choosing View / Toolbars / PrivBar, as before.

(BTW -- MakeMeAdmin is back online, too.)