Chances are, you've had this experience: you weren't really paying attention to all the little checkboxes and fine print when you were installing a software application, and the next time you opened up your Web browser, you found out that you, like countless others before you, had accidentally installed the Ask.com search toolbar.
Well, no big deal, it's just a tiny toolbar, right? Not so much. The problem is, it isn't just taking up precious screen real estate on your screen. The Ask Toolbar is frequently referred to as a browser hijacker because it takes control of the Web browser and does things you may not want, such as using Ask.com instead of Google or Bing to perform a search, or setting the Ask.com webpage as your default homepage. Many people call it a virus, but it isn't malware. The security industry generally refers to it as a 'PUP,' or potentially unwanted program. Users who it hijacks mostly have less polite names for it.
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How Did This Happen?
Ask Toolbar and Search comes bundled as part of various other applications and add-ons, but the most common culprit happens to be Oracle's Java (as if Java wasn't already problematic enough!). During the software installation process, you are shown a checkbox that says, 'Install the Ask Toolbar and make Ask my default search provider.' The checkbox is already checked off, by default. (I hate opt-ins by default).
I frequently get comments that users are clearly informed when they are prompted to install these add-ons, so they shouldn't complain when it happens. While I agree that users should be deliberate when installing software and scrutinizing every line and checkbox that comes up, it's also clear that there are serious problems with an entire distribution model that relies on users not noticing what's happening.
In some cases, the 'typical' installation already includes the add-on and the only way to turn it off is to use the 'custom' installation, which many users won't do.
It also doesn't help that, at least on the Java installer, users are shown the message 'We recommend installing the FREE Browser Add-on from Ask.' From a user's standpoint, if you are installing software, you don't expect recommendations of other programs that have nothing to do with what you are currently trying to do. If it's recommended, you should listen, right?
Wrong.
How do I Make it Stop?
You didn't notice the checkbox in your rush to hit Next, or didn't realize what the Ask Toolbar was going to do, and now you are paying the price. Have no fear—here is what you can do to get rid of it from all your browsers.
Remember, just removing the software that installed the toolbar won't do anything. Uninstalling Java laves the Ask toolbar on your system. We need to uninstall Ask Toolbar Updater and Ask Toolbar from your computer. Ask.com provides a fairly detailed list of steps on how to uninstall the toolbar and also a 'Ask Toolbar Remover' tool. The tool seems to work only with older versions of the toolbar and is not always effective for recent versions, though.
Let's stick with the manual process.
1. Control Panel > Uninstall a program
Before we do anything, we make sure all browsers are closed. Check the Task Manager to make sure none of the browsers are open. (Maybe you should print the directions out first, or use a different device to display this page)
Then, we open up Control Panel and go to 'Uninstall a program' (Add or Remove Programs if you are still on Windows XP). In the list of applications, find and uninstall Ask Toolbar Updater and Ask Toolbar.
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If you have already done this and you still have a problem, look for any applications in the list that has 'Ask' in the Publisher field.
With the software gone, the next step is to clean up the Web browser. The toolbar installed several browser extensions, changed your default homepage to nl.ask.com, and changed the default search engine to use Ask.com.