I discovered the same Google "enhancement" here on my Firefox browser computers.
I was able to fix it (for the moment anyway) by following through on the earlier discussion kindly highlighted by mixture (permalink #4) above. In the other group to which mixture's link points there is a suggestion to add three filter conditions to the Adblock Plus add-on, namely :
google.com###gbx2
google.com###gbx1
google.com###gbpr
It's important that you extend the Gurgle URL where applicable to specifically cover the URL used in your particular instance. The above did not work for me because I use the Australian Google server, but when I amended each line to read:
google.com.au###gbx2
google.com.au###gbx1
google.com.au###gbpr
the bar disappeared. Not that it was really worrying me all that much, but I thought the challenge worth while.
Incidentally, while I am 'on my feet' may I say how much I value the advice given on this forum. Thank you to those who contribute so generously and sometimes patiently. It's appreciated.
Regards
f-o-r
Last edited by FullOppositeRudder; 5th December 2011 at 10:13.
Reason: clarification (hopefully)