Remove Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search (Uninstall Guide)

Ask offers a web search engine (ask.com) and toolbar which are being promoted via other free programs and once installed on your computer, they will hijack your browser homepage and replace your default search engine.

Ask Toolbar and Search got on your computer after you have installed another free software or add-on that had bundled into their installer this browser hijacker. For example, when you install Java,the Ask will install its toolbar, set your browser homepage to ask.com and change your default search engine to nl.ask.com.
However, when you uninstall Java from your computer, your web browser’s default settings will not be restored. This means that you have to remove the Ask toolbar and search from your favorite web browser manually.

You should always pay attention when installing software because often, a software installer includes optional installs, such as this Ask Toolbar. Be very careful what you agree to install.Always opt for the custom installation and deselect anything that is not familiar, especially optional software that you never wanted to download and install in the first place.
It goes without saying that you should not install software that you don’t trust.

Ask Toolbar and Ask.com – Virus Removal Instructions

STEP 1 : Uninstall Ask Toolbar from your computer

In this first step, we will try to identify and remove any malicious program that might be installed on your computer.

1. To uninstall program from Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, click the “Start” button, then click on the “Control Panel” menu option.
   
   If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, right-click in the screen’s bottom-left corner and choose “Control Panel” from the pop-up menu. Or simply drag your mouse pointer to the right edge of the screen, select Search from the list and search for “control panel”
   
2. When the “Control Panel” window opens click on the “Uninstall a program” option under “Programs” category.
   
3. When the “Programs and Features” or the “Uninstall a Program” screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and uninstall Ask Toolbar, Ask Toolbar Updater, Ask Updater and any program from Ask, Spigot or Mindspark Interactive Network.
   The malicious program may have a different name on your computer. To view the most recently installed programs, you can click on the “Installed On” column to sort your program by the installation date. Scroll through the list, and uninstall any unwanted or unknown programs.
   If you are having issues while trying to uninstall the Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search program, you can use Revo Uninstaller to completely remove this unwanted program from your machine.

   
   If you cannot find any unwanted or unknown programs on your machine, then you can proceed with the next step.

STEP 2 : Remove the Ask Toolbar residual damage from your browser

Ask Toolbar has installed several browser extensions, has changed your homepage to search.ask.com, and has changed your default search engine.

Remove Ask Toolbar and Ask.com from Internet Explorer

You can reset Internet Explorer settings to return them to the state they were in when Internet Explorer was first installed on your PC.

1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the “gear icon”  in the upper right part of your browser, then click again on Internet Options.
   
2. In the “Internet Options” dialog box, click on the “Advanced” tab, then click on the “Reset” button.
   
3. In the “Reset Internet Explorer settings” section, select the “Delete personal settings” check box, then click on “Reset” button.
   
4. When Internet Explorer has completed its task, click on the “Close” button in the confirmation dialogue box. You will now  need to close your browser, and then you can open Internet Explorer again.
   

Remove Ask Toolbar and Ask.com from Mozilla Firefox

If you’re having problems with Firefox, resetting it can help. The reset feature fixes many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information like bookmarks, passwords, web form auto-fill information, browsing history and open tabs.

1. In the upper-right corner of the Firefox window, click the Firefox menu button (), then click on the “Help” () button.
   
2. From the Help menu, choose Troubleshooting Information.
   If you’re unable to access the Help menu, type about:support in your address bar to bring up the Troubleshooting information page.
   
3. Click the “Reset Firefox” button in the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page.
   
4. To continue, click on the “Reset Firefox” button in the new confirmation window that opens.
   
5. Firefox will close itself and will revert to its default settings. When it’s done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click on the “Finish“.

Note: Your old Firefox profile will be placed on your desktop in a folder named “Old Firefox Data“. If the reset didn’t fix your problem you can restore some of the information not saved by copying files to the new profile that was created. If you don’t need this folder any longer, you should delete it as it contains sensitive information.

Remove Ask Toolbar and Ask.com from Google Chrome

1. Remove Ask Toolbar extensions from Google Chrome.
   Click the Chrome menu   button on the browser toolbar, select Tools and then click on Extensions.
   
   In the Extensions tab, remove (by clicking on the Recycle Bin) the Ask Toolbar and any other unknown extensions from Google Chrome.
   
2. Set Google Chrome default search engine from ask.com to google.com .
   Click the Chrome menu   button, then select Settings and click on Manage search engines in the Search section.
   In the Search Engines dialog that appears, select Google and click the Make Default button that appears in the row.
   
   Search for Ask.com in the Search Engines list, and click the X that appears at the end of the row.
   
3. Change Google Chrome homepage from ask.com to its default.
   The Ask Toolbar has modified your Google settings to open their webpage whenever you start your browser, so we will need to revert this change.
   Click the Chrome menu  button, then select Settings and click on One the New Tab page in the On Startup section.
   

STEP 3: Remove Ask Toolbar and Search.Ask.com with AdwCleaner

The AdwCleaner utility will scan your computer and web browser for the Ask Toolbar malicious files, browser extensions and registry keys, that may have been installed on your computer without your knowledge.

1. You can download AdwCleaner from the below link.
   ADWCLEANER DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will download “AdwCleaner” on your computer)
2. Before starting AdwCleaner, close all open programs and internet browsers, then double-click on the AdwCleaner icon.
   
   If Windows prompts you as to whether or not you wish to run AdwCleaner, please allow it to run.
3. When the AdwCleaner program will open, click on the “Scan” button as shown below.
   
   AdwCleaner will now start to search for the “Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search” malicious files that may be installed on your computer.
4. To remove the “Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search” malicious files that were detected in the previous step, please click on the “Clean” button.
   
5. AdwCleaner will prompt you to save any open files or documents, as the program will need to reboot the computer. Please do so and then click on the OK button.
   

STEP 4: Remove Ask Toolbar virus from with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free uses industry-leading technology to detect and remove all traces of malware, including worms, Trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware, and more.
It is important to note that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware works well and should run alongside antivirus software without conflicts.

1. You can download download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from the below link.
   MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download “Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free”)
2. Once downloaded, close all programs, then double-click on the icon on your desktop named “mbam-setup” to start the installation of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
   
   You may be presented with a User Account Control dialog asking you if you want to run this file. If this happens, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.
3. When the installation begins, you will see the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Setup Wizard which will guide you through the installation process.
   
   To install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on your machine, keep following the prompts by clicking the “Next” button.
   
4. Once installed, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program, and that a scan has never been run on your system. To start a system scan you can click on the “Scan Now” button.
   
5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for the Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search virus. When Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is scanning it will look like the image below.
   
6. When the scan has completed, you will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware has detected. To remove the malicious programs that Malwarebytes Anti-malware has found, click on the “Remove Seletected” button.
   
   Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
7. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now quarantine all the malicious files and registry keys that it has found. When removing the files, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot your computer, please allow it to do so.
   
   After your computer will restart, you should open Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and perform another “Threat Scan” scan to verify that there are no remaining threats

STEP 5: Double-check for the Ask Toolbar infection with HitmanPro

HitmanPro is a second opinion scanner, designed to rescue your computer from malware (viruses, trojans, rootkits, etc.) that have infected your computer despite all the security measures you have taken (such as anti virus software, firewalls, etc.). HitmanPro is designed to work alongside existing security programs without any conflicts. It scans the computer quickly (less than 5 minutes) and does not slow down the computer.

1. You can download HitmanPro from the below link:
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download “HitmanPro”)
2. Double-click on the file named “HitmanPro.exe” (for 32-bit versions of Windows) or “HitmanPro_x64.exe” (for 64-bit versions of Windows). When the program starts you will be presented with the start screen as shown below.
   
   Click on the “Next” button, to install HitmanPro on your computer.
   
3. HitmanPro will now begin to scan your computer for Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search malicious files.
   
4. When it has finished it will display a list of all the malware that the program found as shown in the image below. Click on the “Next” button, to remove Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search virus.
   
5. Click on the “Activate free license” button to begin the free 30 days trial, and remove all the malicious files from your computer.