84,488,480 programs installed

Should I remove Ask Social Toolbar?

What percent of users and experts removed it?
85% remove it15% keep it
Overall Sentiment
Bad
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #33,866
United States Rank #41,183
Reach 0.0037%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 5.43 days
160.29 days >
Average installed length: 84.22 days

Versions

VersionDistribution
12.35.0.2501 2.78%
12.29.0.1639 2.78%
12.24.1.360 1.39%
12.24.1.301 2.78%
12.21.0.4072 4.17%
12.19.0.3649 4.17%
12.19.0.3606 1.39%
12.18.0.3131 2.78%
12.16.2.2384 2.78%
12.16.2.2247 1.39%
12.16.2.1948 1.39%
12.16.1.1730 1.39%
12.16.1.1565 1.39%
12.15.5.1116 6.94%
12.15.0.566 4.17%
12.15.0.557 8.33%
12.10.6.5291 19.44%
12.10.6.5113 15.28%
12.10.6.75 1.39%
12.10.6.74 1.39%
12.10.3.4724 2.78%
12.10.2.4519 2.78%
12.10.2.4517 2.78%
12.10.2.3646 2.78%
12.10.0.3315 1.39%

Ask Social Toolbar

What is Ask Social Toolbar?

Ask Social Toolbar is an Ask.com (Ask Partner Network) Toolbar that will provide limited web browser functionality but will modify the user's home and search pages and providers to an Ask.com managed partner search engine.

About  (from APN)

The Ask Toolbar is a free browser add-on that allows you to search the Web using the Ask.com search engine directly from the browser.

Overview

The most used version is 12.10.6.5291, with over 98% 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. 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 tbnotifier.exe. Typically most users end up uninstalling this just after a few days. The software installer includes 12 files and is usually about 496 KB (507,904 bytes).
  • Possible malware installed by this program
  • Automatically starts with Windows
  • Loads into the web browser
  • 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 Social 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 Social 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

Help link: apnstatic.ask.com/static/toolbar/everest/documents/faq/index.html
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\askpartnernetwork\toolbar\updater
Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{504C542D-534F-4300-76A7-A758B70C0A00}
(The Windows Installer is used for the installation, maintenance, and removal.)
Estimated size: 496 KB

Program filesFiles installed by Ask Social Toolbar

Program executable:tbnotifier.exe (Malware detected)
Name:Ask TBNotifier
Ask Toolbar Notifier
Signed by:APN LLC
Path:C:\Program Files\askpartnernetwork\toolbar\updater\tbnotifier.exe
MD5:33be35574e1081a91eacd2b98e0a472a
(From the publisher) “The Ask Toolbar Notifier is a client process which runs as part of the Ask Toolbar. The Notifier's job is to help instruct you during the toolbar installation and browser upgrades on your computer. ”

Program behaviorsBehaviors exhibited

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'.

How do I remove Ask Social Toolbar?

You can uninstall Ask Social 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 Social 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 Social 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 Social Toolbar you can restore them to their previous default settings.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome

OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 44%
Win Vista (SP1) 1%
 
HOW IT STARTS
Automatically starts? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
 
USER ACTIONS
Uninstall it 85%
Keep it 15%

Windows OS versionsWindows

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 61.11%
Windows 10 29.17%
Windows XP 6.94%
Windows Vista 2.78%
Which OS releases does it run on?
Windows 7 Ultimate 27.78%
Windows 7 Home Premium 22.22%
Windows 7 Professional 8.33%
Microsoft Windows XP 6.94%
Windows 8.1 5.56%
Windows 8.1 Single Langua... 5.56%

Distribution by countryGeography

28.21% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
  United States 28.21%
  Saudi Arabia 10.26%
  MA 7.69%
  Mexico 7.69%
  Brazil 6.41%
  Canada 5.13%
  Argentina 5.13%
  Egypt 3.85%
  United Kingdom 3.85%
  Germany 2.56%
  Spain 2.56%
  Vietnam 2.56%
  TN 2.56%
  Belgium 1.28%

OEM distributionPC manufacturers

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Hewlett-Packard 30.77%
Dell 19.23%
Acer 15.38%
ASUS 7.69%
Lenovo 5.77%
Samsung 5.77%
Sony 5.77%
Toshiba 3.85%
NEC 1.92%
GIGABYTE 1.92%
Sahara 1.92%
Common models
HP Pavilion dv4 Notebook ... 3.13%
HP Pavilion 15 Notebook P... 3.13%
Acer Aspire E1-531 3.13%
Acer Aspire 5536 1.56%
ACCEPT G41T-M7 1.56%
TOSHIBA Satellite L655 1.56%

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