Motive SmartBridge

The Motive SmartBridge background task is installed with Verizon Online’s software which is included with their residential DSL service. It has an autoupdate prompt which runs at startup. I disabled it on my computer simply because I don’t know exactly what it does. Since I don’t have a use for it and anything running uses up some memory, I’ll keep it that way. Read the comments to learn about removing verizon online support center.

160 Responses to “Motive SmartBridge”

  1. Charlie says:

    I’ve never owned or used a Verizon product. So how did I suddenly start getting this error mssage on startup “MOTIVESB cannot find entry point”?

  2. Bill says:

    I did the following:

    >Start
    >Run
    >Browse
    >Program Files
    >Verizon Online
    >SmartBridge
    >Uninstall

    The SB file is now empty and I’m smiling! :-)

    Thanks Elliot!

  3. Caifan- says:

    Thanks for the help to all of you. I finally killed “SmartBridge”. stupid program, I didn’t knew what was the program’s job but when I accept to update it something went wrong with my Computer. I couldn’t open any pictures at all. I had to use the System Restore and I looked for the program on google, thanks to god I found this page and I decided to kill this stupid program “SmartBridge” [Smartcrap] I should say. Finally thank you to all of you………..
    Caifan-

  4. […] Update: Paged Comments are now in! One example of where this works rather well is the Motive Smartbridge post, currently with 128 comments. I just don’t understand why the comments look indented, though. // Used for showing and hiding user information in the comment form function ShowUtils() { document.getElementById(“authorinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(“showinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(“hideinfo”).style.display = “”; } function HideUtils() { document.getElementById(“authorinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(“showinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(“hideinfo”).style.display = “none”; } […]

  5. mole says:

    SmartBridge
    is part of the BT broadband help, found it on ‘search’ It lives at C:\Program Files\BT Broardband Help

  6. Kim says:

    Thanks for all the help. I finally got Motive off my computer. My version was downloaded with a new DSL service from BellSouth. With all the help from this site I just started looking in different folders under Program files. I finally found it under “Common Files.” It would not let me trash can it because it was running at the time. I finally opened the the “Motive” folder and started deleting everything in it one at a time. Once I deleted enough stuff in the folder it let me delete the whole folder. I am new at this stuff, and I really appreciate your help. I was turned on to your site by a company in New Zealand named “Motive” which has nothing to do with this intrusive Smartbridge, but which has gotten a lot of email asking about it. Andy there was really nice to let me know about your great site. Keep up the good work.

  7. […] Spread the word: related  |  bookmark it!  |  digg it!  |  reddit! // Used for showing and hiding user information in the comment form function ShowUtils() {document.getElementById(“authorinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(“showinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(“hideinfo”).style.display = “”; } function HideUtils() { document.getElementById(“authorinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(“showinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(“hideinfo”).style.display = “none”; } […]

  8. Rolf Bombach says:

    Thanks for all the explanations. After installing DSL from bluewin/swisscom
    I had to discover that the ALT-F1 and so on keys have been redirected
    to motive smart bridge. But I need these keys for operating the
    Total commander file manager. With a free regcleaner software I
    successfully kicked motiveSB out of the start list. I have also found, in the
    windows/motive directory, a mccuninst.exe file but until now I didn’t
    dare to use it. The motiveSB was most likely installed to run an online
    “quick help” feature of the ISP. It didn’t work anyway, so I am not
    missing anything really now.

  9. Mel Hunt says:

    Lee:

    Thank you so much for the fix on motive smart. I had been wrestling with it for several days and it was exremely annoying. I dont even have a cell phone.

  10. Michel says:

    Thanks for the info Elliot I finaly got rid of Motive Smartbridge Autoupdate.

  11. Sofia says:

    Hi Elliot. I’ve been browsing through the numerous comments here (phew 14 pages!) and I was wondering what I should do with my problem. I’ve been getting this warning sign that MotiveSB couldn’t find some *.dll file. This happened when I installed IE7. The warning comes up everytime I start up in Windows XP. I have nothing against Motive SB. I don’t really want to take it off. But I just want to get rid of the warning that comes up every startup.

    A little help please?

  12. Luca says:

    Thanks man, worked wonders. I was prepared to smash the thing :)

  13. Denise Shuart says:

    Thank you,
    I have sent email upon email to verizon asking what Motive SmartBridge AutoUpdate is, and they’ve sent me form letterdirecting me to their redily available help faq’s… not in there. I’ve now disabled it. The darn thing would come up & just go nuts making it impossible for me to proceed with what I was working on.
    Have a great day!

  14. Charlie in Dallas says:

    Thank You ! That smartbridge pop up was driving me NUTS! Thanks to your instruction I was able to isolate and destroy a quick time exe that was always popping up as well. cool ! Thanks Again !

    Charlie

  15. Philip Gericke says:

    I’ve been having the same problem as Sofia back in December: a warning on startup that SmartBridge can’t find a certain point of entry file. Once you tell the warning “OK” you can go on and do whatever you want. I called Verizon to ask how to eliminate this nuisance; the tech at first suggested it was a Dell issue, but when I showed her (via shared screen) how this was in the Verizon program files she Googled it with me and found this website. I honestly don’t think she knew any more about it than I did (probably less). Is there a way to get rid of the warning without getting rid of SmartBridge?

    Philip

  16. Karen Lee says:

    I had verizon dsl for a year no problems…. then upgraded to FiOS for the tv and got a new router…. that’s when everything went haywire… spoke with Verizon about this, they downloaded something into my laptop (running XP home) and that seemed to help but then after I hung up with them and shutdown, I began to have all sorts of problems… hang ups/freezes, spontaneous reboots, slooooooow loading….

    I have used add/remove prorams to go in and uninstall all of Verizon Online Help via their automatic uninstall (they have choices of automatic, custom, etc). After the uninstall was complete I ran a search in and found the following still there:
    c:\Windows\Prefetch\MotiveSB.exe-06D534D5.pf
    c:\Windows\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\Motive
    c:\DocumentsandSettings\AllUsers\Apllications\Motive
    c:\DocumentsandSettings\”my name”\LocalSettings\Temp

    BUT the biggest issue I have is that what didn’t show up in the above search I found when I clicked and found a folder and in that folder still remained an evil file:
    c:\Program Files\Verizon\SmartBridge\SBHook.dll

    It wouldn’t let me delete this file…… Perhaps I will be able to after I restart my laptop and all of SmartBridge has been disabled via the uninstall, but in case I cannot reconnect to the web, I thought I should post this status report for others…..

    I thought first I would just disable it in the startup menu, but I don’t even want this on my computer….. which is why I chose the uninstall route…. [Yikes – I just tried to type the “u” character on my keyboard and now I get a weird popup syaing that “Wireless LAN is enabled” — retaliation I suppose!!!! and I cannot get the popup to go away – it is frozen but fortunately I can continue to type — if it is still there after I reboot I will be searching for answers for that and how to disable the Wireless LAN!!!]

    Wish me luck…. hoping I can remove SmartBridge permanently…. I don’t want clutter in my life……

  17. Karen Lee says:

    Well, I rebooted and then with a much faster startup, I was able to go to that dll file and delete it and its folder from the Verizon folder….. BUT nw I cannot sign on to the internet…. I am dead in the streets and had to go to another computer to write this…..

    on the above restart my McAfee Virsuscan came on but then I got a popup that even said my fireawall was turned off — which I had not done…. quite odd

    I have restored the dll file and its folder, but don’t have the Verizon Online Help items to return as I uninstalled them and never had any cd with the software……

    I am now rebooting the laptop with the dll back in there and will see what I get……

    Well, I click on Internet Explorer and I get the page Cannot find Server…. but I also cannot close this window – get the hourglass on the x/close button and just below it is a running message window that says “Verizon” like a marquee display and just below i t so tiny I can’t read it some flashing text in red…. It appears that Verizon is either getting info from me or sending me stuff..

    It appears that I have no choice but to call Verizon — ugh….

  18. Karen Lee says:

    Well it appears that in removing the settings with the MotiveSB, my new network adapter for the new router was changed. Once the proper network adapter was re-enabled, then I was able to access internet through explorer without a hitch…..

  19. Topic: Motive Smartbridge

    I want to know what this software does? I want it off my computer. Would you help me please? Thanks! Gordon

  20. Steve Lazzaro says:

    From what I know from using it and being a Verizon customer for a number of years, the Motive SB or Motive Chorus Browser allows Verizon Help & Support personnel to run live chat sessions with you to help diagnose problems. I, too, thought it was bad, particularly when the update sessions always ran into endless loops that were extremely hard to break out of. But it is a useful tool when you need it. The concept is good, the product is NOT Verizon’s, and there are better, less buggy programs out there that would do the same thing for Verizon and their users, because I have used them in other situations. It is funny to read the paranoid comments above, though. The Motive program is NOT spyware, as some people think.
    See: fileinfo.prevx.com/adware/qq186338158-MCCI5469608/MCCIBrowser.html

    BTW, I and none of my family work for Verizon, so I am not some undercover customer relations guy.

    I got to this blog looking to REDOWNLOAD the program, hoping they have an updated version w/o the endless loop update problem, because I am having a problem with Verizon’s web mail and I need to get it fixed. I will end up emailing or having to call, which is not as good as live chat, IMO.

  21. Tom Venditto says:

    Thanks for the speedy answer to my problem (motive notso smart bridge)!
    Great web site.
    TomJV

  22. CJC says:

    In response to Steve Lazzarro…not only is “Motive Smart,Smartbridge” a misnomer it also does not (the smart part) apply to Verizon’s “tech support?” employees.

    The first time I called, the rep said contact your computer manufacturer…today, the rep said I have a virus…after an hour on the phone and allowing a supervisor to remotely access my computer, she removed the problem…what a nightmare.

    During that hour I could have removed it myself with Elliotts advice and all the respondants on this site…told the Verizon suprvisor to call me after a memo had been sent to every tech support person since all they helped with is wasting two hours…they owe me the time after overbillings and three weeks with no DSL and disconnected phone just because I changed the bill to my name after my roommate moved out (we had the service two years already.)

    Thanks for the blog and the chance to vent regarding a bunch of paycheck collectors…Whew! that helped.

  23. jay says:

    hey guy, i have the ( Mcci mcciBrowser ) trying to enter my computor thur the verizon firewall ? what should i do ? i have cancled it evertime but need some help, thank you. jay

  24. Stephanie says:

    I am having the same problem with the mcci McciBrowser trying to enter my computer through my firewall. Any suggestions? As a result, my DSL will not connect to the internet.

  25. Leonard says:

    There is also a handy and free little program that can be downloaded called “startup.exe”
    This is a sophisticated vesrion of MSCONFIG
    Many things can be safely and at will be disabled in this program.
    I use it a lot in my computer consulting business and have never seen a problem with it
    I dsabled the Motive Smartbridge with this and can easily re-enable it whenever desired.
    Also very handy to find certain corruption entries.
    Leonard

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