84,488,480 programs installed

Should I remove Ask Shopping Toolbar?

What percent of users and experts removed it?
81% remove it19% keep it
Overall Sentiment
Bad
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #14,577
United States Rank #17,409
Reach 0.0196%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 9.74 days
287.47 days >
Average installed length: 151.04 days

Versions

VersionDistribution
12.2.2.679 2.07%
12.2.2.671 1.30%
12.2.2.652 2.07%
12.2.2.649 0.26%
12.2.2.639 1.81%
12.2.2.603 0.52%
12.2.2.599 0.52%
12.2.2.587 0.78%
12.2.2.578 0.26%
12.2.1.507 0.26%
12.1.0.368 0.52%
12.1.0.365 0.52%
12.1.0.363 0.52%
12.1.0.358 0.26%
12.1.0.356 0.52%
12.1.0.301 0.26%
12.1.0.298 0.26%
12.1.0.297 0.26%
11.10.1.947 0.26%
11.10.1.946 0.26%
11.10.1.908 1.04%
11.10.0.897 0.26%
11.10.0.895 1.55%
11.10.0.893 0.26%
11.10.0.891 1.04%
11.10.0.890 0.52%
11.10.0.888 1.04%
11.10.0.884 0.52%
11.10.0.883 1.04%
11.10.0.880 2.33%
11.10.0.879 0.78%
11.10.0.878 3.89%
11.10.0.874 2.33%
11.10.0.873 1.04%
11.10.0.872 0.78%
11.10.0.758 1.30%
11.10.0.757 0.26%
11.10.0.756 0.78%
11.8.1.394 1.30%
11.8.1.390 0.52%
11.8.1.389 0.26%
11.8.1.387 0.52%
11.8.1.386 0.52%
11.8.1.379 0.52%
11.8.1.377 0.26%
11.8.1.373 0.26%
11.8.1.366 1.30%
11.8.1.365 0.26%
11.8.1.355 1.30%
11.8.1.354 1.30%
11.7.1.1301 0.26%
110 versions

Other programs by Ask.com

Ask Shopping Toolbar

What is Ask Shopping Toolbar?

Ask Shopping Toolbar is a web-browser add-on that can appear as an extra bar added to the browser's window and/or menu. It is often installed (sometimes without warning) during the installation of other software. Ask.com has entered into partnerships with some software security vendors, whereby they are paid to distribute the toolbar alongside their software. When you use the Toolbar to submit a query, the Toolbar forwards such query information to Ask servers. Ask.com uses this information to process your web search requests and to return a search results page to you.

About  (from Ask.com)

The Ask.com toolbar is a great way to save you time when searching on the Web. The application will install itself onto your Web Browser and provide you with tools that will help make your searches more efficient. Ask toolbar works with both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

Overview

The most used version is 11.10.0.878, with over 18% of all installations currently using this version. Upon installation and setup, it defines an auto-start registry entry which makes this program run on each Windows boot for all user logins. A scheduled task is added to Windows Task Scheduler in order to launch the program at various scheduled times (the schedule varies depending on the version). The software is designed to connect to the Internet and adds a Windows Firewall exception in order to do so without being interfered with. The main program executable is ToolbarIcon.exe. Typically most users end up uninstalling this just after a few days. The software installer includes 2 files.
  • Possible malware installed by this program
  • Automatically starts with Windows
  • Loads into the web browser
  • Connects to a server over the Internet
  • Typically distributed through a pay-per-install bundle
  • The experts agree, you should remove it!
Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in Ask Shopping Toolbar.
tbnotifier.exe (33be35574e1081a91eacd2b98e0a472a) has been flagged by the following 3 scanners:
Anti-Virus softwareVersionDetection
AhnLab-V3 2014.08.06 PUP/Win32.IECore
Baidu-International 4.0.3.1486 PUA.Win32.AskToolbar.bF
ESET-NOD32 8.10211 a variant of Win32/Bundled.Toolbar.Ask.F
Ask Shopping Toolbar has been found to be bundled with 3rd party software. If you have not purposefully installed this, you should be safe uninstalling it.

Program detailsProgram details

Displayed publisher: Ask Partner Network
URL: help.ask.com/link/portal/30015/30018/Article/1/How-do-I-remove-the-Ask-com-Toolbar
Help link: about.ask.com/en/docs/about/index.shtml
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\Ask.com\
Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{5347542D-5341-5400-76A7-A758B70B0300}
(The Windows Installer is used for the installation, maintenance, and removal.)

Program filesFiles installed by Ask Shopping Toolbar

Program executable:ToolbarIcon.exe
Path:C:\Windows\Installer\{5733492D-5341-5400-76A7-A758B70B0801}\ToolbarIcon.exe
MD5:435d06bf596aedb30fe02f3972159e01
  • tbnotifier.exe (by APN) - Ask TBNotifier (Ask Toolbar Notifier)

Program behaviorsBehaviors exhibited

Scheduled Task
  • tbnotifier.exe is scheduled as a task with the class '{2A74CAE7-C98C-44C6-9E9E-155D069D857D}' (runs on registration).
Scheduled Task (Boot/Login)
  • tbnotifier.exe is automatically launched at startup through a scheduled task named ApnTBMon.
Startup File (All Users Run)
  • tbnotifier.exe is loaded in the all users (HKLM) registry as a startup file name 'ApnTBMon (1)' which loads as "C:\Program Files\AskPartnerNetwork\Toolbar\Updater\TBNotifier.exe".
Windows Firewall Allowed Program
  • tbnotifier.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\AskPartnerNetwork\Toolbar\Updater\TBNotifier.exe'.
Network connections
  • tbnotifier.exe connects to a23-67-253-43.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com (23.67.253.43 port 80).
  • tbnotifier.exe connects to 79.140.95.144 (port 80).
  • tbnotifier.exe connects to a23-67-62-64.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com (23.67.62.64 port 80).

Program resource utilizationResource utilization averages

tbnotifier.exe
Memory:4.5 MB
21.09 MB average
Total CPU:0.0063976597%
0.031193% average
Kernel CPU:0.00375310%
0.016088% average
User CPU:0.00264456%
0.015104% average
CPU cycles/sec:165,270
8,062,084 average
I/O reads/min:2.21 KB
435.61 KB average
I/O writes/min:8 Bytes
105.02 KB average

How do I remove Ask Shopping Toolbar?

You can uninstall Ask Shopping Toolbar from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel.
  1. On the Start menu (for Windows 8, right-click the screen's bottom-left corner), click Control Panel, and then, under Programs, do one of the following:
    • Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall a Program.
    • Windows XP: Click Add or Remove Programs.
  2. When you find the program Ask Shopping Toolbar, click it, and then do one of the following:
    • Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall.
    • Windows XP: Click the Remove or Change/Remove tab (to the right of the program).
  3. Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Ask Shopping Toolbar.
  4. If for some reason uninstallation fails, please install Microsoft's uninstall fixer utility which will help fix problems with programs that can't be uninstalled at support.microsoft.com.

How do I reset my web browser?

If your web browser homepage and search settings have been modfied by Ask Shopping Toolbar you can restore them to their previous default settings.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome

OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 57%
Win 7 0%
 
HOW IT STARTS
Automatically starts? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
 
USER ACTIONS
Uninstall it 81%
Keep it 19%

Windows OS versionsWindows

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 71.76%
Windows XP 18.39%
Windows Vista 5.18%
Windows 10 4.66%
Which OS releases does it run on?
Windows 7 Ultimate 38.18%
Windows 7 Home Premium 22.86%
Microsoft Windows XP 18.18%
Windows 7 Professional 5.71%
Windows Vista Home Premiu... 3.38%
Windows 8 2.08%

Distribution by countryGeography

31.11% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
  United States 31.11%
  Iran 26.27%
  Brazil 3.69%
  Hungary 3.00%
  Indonesia 2.53%
  Romania 1.61%
  Thailand 1.61%
  Saudi Arabia 1.61%
  Czech Republic 1.38%
  Philippines 1.15%
  Taiwan 1.15%
  Canada 1.15%
  Germany 1.15%
  United Kingdom 1.15%

OEM distributionPC manufacturers

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Dell 24.90%
Hewlett-Packard 24.07%
GIGABYTE 16.18%
Acer 14.94%
ASUS 8.30%
Toshiba 3.32%
Samsung 2.90%
Intel 2.07%
Sony 1.66%
Gateway 0.83%
American Megatrends 0.83%
Common models
Dell Inspiron N5110 6.45%
Dell Inspiron N5010 3.87%
Gigabyte EP31-DS3L 2.58%
HP G62 Notebook PC 2.58%
HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... 2.58%
MSI MS-7592 1.94%

About Ask.com

Ask focuses on search traffic through various methods, the number being installation of its toolbars through a lot of bundle and rebrand programs.
Publisher URL: www.ask.com

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