Hello Rich,

 

Welcome to the Community Forum,

 

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.

 

What you are seeing and describing sounds like it may be what we on the Community refer to as a PUA. (Potentially Unwanted Application) These are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behavior that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools.. but they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.

 

WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behavior that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.

 

For those that are not detected by WSA, please see this KB Article. It has some easy to follow directions on locating and removing PUA's. You may also want to submit a Trouble Ticket, especially if you cannot remove it easily from the directions in the KB Article.

 

For those that ARE detected by WSA, but cannot be removed automatically, you can submit a Trouble Ticket.  Webroot Support will help you get these annoying 'crapware' off your computer at no extra charge, and the additional examples

may help to better automatic removal of that particular PUA for all users in the future.

 

Please Reset your Browser after uninstalling the Ask toolbar from Control Panel/Programs/Add Remove (uninstall)

 

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” http://malwaretips.com/images/removalguide/icongear.jpg 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.

Firefox Browser,

 

• In the upper-right corner of the Firefox window, click the Firefox menu button (http://malwaretips.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Firefox-menu-button.png), then click on the “Help” (http://malwaretips.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Firefox-Help.png) button.
  
• 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.
  
• Click the “Reset Firefox” button in the upper-right corner of the “Troubleshooting Information” page.
  
• To continue, click on the “Reset Firefox” button in the new confirmation window that opens.
  
• 
  
• 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“
  

 

• Remove Ask Toolbar extensions from Google Chrome.
  Click the Chrome menu http://malwaretips.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Chrome-button.png  button on the browser toolbar, select Tools and then click on Extensions.
  
• n the Extensions tab, remove (by clicking on the Recycle Bin) the Ask Toolbar and any other unknown extensions from Google Chrome.
  
• Set Google Chrome default search engine from ask.com to google.com .
  Click the Chrome menu http://malwaretips.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Chrome-button.png  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.
  
• et Google Chrome default search engine from ask.com to google.com .

 

• 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 http://malwaretips.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Chrome-button.png button, then select Settings and click on One the New Tab page in the On Startup section.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

 

 

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