Should I remove Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar?

What percent of users and experts removed it?

69% remove it31% keep it

Overall Sentiment

Bad

What do people think about it?

(click star to rate)

How common is it?

Reach <0.001%

Versions

Version	Distribution
1.15.25.0	100.00%

Other programs by Ask.com

Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar

from Ask.com

Remove Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar by Ask.com

What is Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar? (from Ask.com)

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Overview

Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar is a program developed by Ask.com. 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 main program executable is updater.exe. A vast majority of those who have this installed end up removing it just after a couple weeks. The setup package is about 3.7 MB (3,883,520 bytes) when donwloaded. updater.exe is the automatic update component of the software designed to download and apply new updates should new versions be released. A majority of the PCs this is running on, most OS versions are Windows 7 (SP1). While about 83% of users of Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar come from the United States, it is also popular in Canada.

Starts automatically
Loads into the web browser
Many experts agree, if you don't use it you should remove it!

Program details

Help link: about.ask.com/en/docs/about/index.shtml

Installation folder: C:\Program Files\ask.com\assets\oobe

Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{86D4B82A-ABED-442A-BE86-96357B70F4FE}

(The Windows Installer is used for the installation, maintenance, and removal.)

Estimated size: 3.7 MB

Files installed by Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar

Program executable:	updater.exe
Name:	Updater
	Ask Updater
Path:	C:\Program Files\ask.com\updater\updater.exe
MD5:	2aa7dbda264cfdf55880a9e729914b5c
	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 Internet Explorer browser. The Ask Toolbar is integrated with the 3rd party software downloads. During the...

Behaviors exhibited

Startup File (All Users Run)

updater.exe is loaded in the all users (HKLM) registry as a startup file name 'ApnUpdater' which loads as "C:\Program Files\Ask.com\Updater\Updater.exe".

How do I remove Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar?

You can uninstall Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel.

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.

When you find the program Whitesmoke Ask 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).

Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Whitesmoke Ask Toolbar.
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.