Remove Ask Toolbar and Ask.com Search from Your Browser

It is common for computers to be infected with malware like Ask toolbar. The Ask toolbar along with the Ask search bar is notorious for hijacking your browser and hampering productivity by redirecting all the traffic to its search engine. The Ask Toolbar and search bar are often bundled with software installers including those from big companies like Oracle.

Prevention is better than a cure

The Ask toolbar finds its way to your computer through various channels, and as a user you need to be alert while installing free software. Various software publishers integrate the Ask toolbar into their installer for monetary benefits, and those who install software without looking at the details are often the ones attacked by the malware.

Whenever you are installing software, it is always better to select custom installation rather than a recommended installation, as this would give you a chance for Ask to show up.

If the Ask toolbar has already been installed, don’t fret, as there are a few ways for you to promptly get rid of the troublemaker.

Click on “Start” and proceed to “Control Panel;” select “uninstall a program from the options.”

The Control panel will display the list of programs installed in your system. From the list, uninstall everything that is related to Ask.com.

Remove Ask content from the browsers

Chrome Browser

Even after getting rid of the Ask program from the Control Panel, the extensions still reside in the browsers and need to be deleted manually. If you are using the Chrome browser, head to “More -> Extensions,” select all extensions related to Ask and delete them by selecting “Remove from Chrome.” This step will ensure that Ask.com is removed as the default search engine and will not interfere with your searches anymore.

Firefox

If you are using the Firefox browser, then head to the Add-ons section. Search for the Ask toolbar and remove the extension.

After receiving plenty of complaints from users, Ask now offers a removal tool that would remove Ask and all the associated content with the single click of a button. The tool seems to be working fine for us and is able to remove all traces of Ask content.

Download the removal tool from here, click on “Run,” and check all the checkboxes. This will help you remove entire content from the system post which is needed to restart the PC.

Wrapping it up

With the above methods, Ask and the associated files should be completely deleted, but in all likelihood some of the files might have taken refuge in the registry. In order to clear them up, we need to run an adware cleaner.

While I have chosen AdwCleaner, you can choose any adware remover you prefer. After downloading AdwCleaner, it scans your entire PC and after that it will delete all the residual files making your PC healthy again.