We decided to pay attention to the question of how to remove Ask.com. This is a search engine, which can not be called useless, because it has a number of convenient functions that facilitate browsing the Internet. The system has earned a worthy place among competitors by testing itself with time. On the other hand, the methods that developers resort to conquering the hearts of their customers are very intrusive. And this approach is not shared by all users.
What is Ask.com?
Initially, Ask.com was a fairly well-known search engine in the world (at least in the English-speaking segment of the Internet). Its history goes back more than 15 years, the first name of the
search engine was Ask Jeeves, and it was built on the same set of functions as the modern world search engines Google and Yahoo. Like the mentioned search engines, it has its own set of services: search by photo, location, blogs, and a number of services that are already familiar to all, like encyclopedias, dictionaries, maps, and others. Out of these services, the notorious Ask.com Toolbar was eventually formed.
The distinctive idea of this search engine was the key character of Ask Jeeves, actually Jeeves, who answered the questions asked in a simple and understandable language. Jeeves alone is a fictional character and is a reference to a series of comedy stories and novels by Pale Woodhouse about the adventures of Jeeves and Worcester. The presence of the character in the search engine often changes depending on the decisions made in the main office of the company.
Around 2008, many Internet users began to have a problem with this search engine and its intrusive toolbar. Often Ask.com Toolbar has already been included in browsers such as Intenet Explorer, Google Chrom or Firefox. Many users have noticed that the activity of this extension can adversely affect the browser: a load on productivity, which reduced the speed of work, unauthorized changes to settings without the participation of users, and the appearance of a large number of browser ads. And many users began to wonder how to remove Ask.com from your personal computer.
The dangers of finding Ask.com on a personal computer
To begin with, the Ask.com installed applications and extensions in most classifications are regarded as potentially unwanted programs and get to your personal computer along with programs in the public domain. It should be borne in mind that if the PC does not get rid of this problem as soon as possible, it can contribute to the emergence and development of other virus applications and programs.
These problems appear from the moment the malware was installed on your computer (through other software). Subsequently, it begins to make changes to your system and your browser settings. That is why with the question of how to remove Ask.com, you can not hesitate.
Signs of Ask.com appearing on the computer
There are many signs, from overt to less noticeable. The first manifestation is the change of your homepage to the start site of the Ask.com search engine. It also affects your bookmarks, adding your pages often with ads. The next change that will appear in your browser is redirecting to malicious sites with a high content of advertising when you click on any space of the site, which will significantly annoy and interfere with your work on the Internet. Ask.com also facilitates the task of many online scammers who want to get your personal information from any information on your hard drive and ending with the data (logins and passwords) of your online accounts. This is done with the help of virus programs that can get to your computer with easy submission of the changed settings from Ask.com.
Removal Instructions
As you can see, leaving this program is simply dangerous for your operating system, personal data, and in some running cases for the performance of the processor itself.
So, let's look at some questions regarding Ask.com. How to remove completely from the hard drive? It is advisable to identify and demolish both the file with which it got to your PC, and Ask.com itself in the programs. To remove from the hard drive you will need to go to the "Control Panel" (which you can access by clicking on the "Start" button in the lower left part of the desktop). In the "Programs and Features" tab, find the name of the program you want to remove and boldly click on the "Uninstall a Program" button . If you are using the eighth version of Windows, then just open the Windows menu, and there you will find the desired "Control Panel" button.
Sometimes difficulties may arise due to the name of the program (the specified name in the list will be completely different) or if it is not indicated as installed. In this case, remove recently installed suspicious programs from the computer in the same way.
Work with the browser
Let's take a closer look at how to remove Ask.com from the browser. If the above procedure did not help you and the service is still in the browser, then you need to go a little different way and delete directly from the browser. They differ from each other, and the methods for removing the search engine will also have slight differences. Because of these differences, each browser needs to take its own approach.
Windows Browser
Next, we will discuss how to remove Ask.com from Internet Explorer. To do this, open Internet Explorer and click on the browser settings button (looks like a gear) in the upper right corner and click on "Internet Options". In this menu you will need to find a line called "Advanced" and click on the reset button. After that, it remains only in the "Restart browser settings" section to set a checkmark in front of the line "Delete personal settings" and click on restart. When this process is completed, exit the settings and accept the changes by clicking the OK button. Exit and go back to the browser - the changes will take effect.
Note, even if you do not use the standard OS browser, you should not leave a malicious program in it, since in the future, because of this, the problem may return again.
How to remove Ask.com from Firefox Browser
For the Mozilla Firefox browser, there is another control procedure. Enter the browser and on the top panel find the icon with the tools. Through it, go to the subcategory of the Help menu, where you will need to find and select the item related to troubleshooting. Next, click the "Restart Firefox" button, which can be found in the upper right corner labeled "Troubleshooting Information." When the confirmation window opens, also click "Reload" and after closing the browser all settings will be reset along with Ask.com. A window will pop up listing the changes, just click "Finish."
Clean up Google Chrome
First of all, open the browser extensions in the settings of Google Chrome (three horizontal bars on the upper right, tools). Find the Ask.com extension and click on the basket opposite. Also pay attention to other extensions in the menu. A malicious program could successfully add other add-ons that you don’t need too much, and if any of them are unknown to you, we recommend that you remove them. In addition, if you have a question about how to remove Ask.com from the start page, go to your browser settings and click on "Manage search engines" (search section). In the selection menu, select the search engine you need and set it by default in the browser.
Cleaning the registry and using antivirus
After all these procedures, be sure to check the system using antivirus and clean the registry to eliminate the remnants of malware. Many antiviruses provide you with the ability to fully scan your PC, and since there are many, you decide which one to use. But if you have the opportunity, it is better to check several antiviruses at once. There are also several options for how to remove Ask.com from the registry - manually or using many different utilities. Manual registry cleaning requires sufficient knowledge to completely clean the system from the virus, and if you make a mistake, this can lead to problems with the performance of your operating system.
Because of this, it is best to use utilities to clean the registry. The quantity and quality of them is quite diverse, as well as their price, up to the free versions. Consider cleaning with the example of AdwCleaner.
It is designed specifically for the search and removal of toolbars, advertising extensions, etc. that go in conjunction with the downloaded software. Using this program is quite simple - after installation you only need to click on the scan button and after the result that the utility gives you, remove all malicious programs. We advise you to look at the list - in it you can find what you might still need. After cleaning the registry and scanning with antiviruses, restart your computer. So we figured out how to remove Ask.com.