84,488,480 programs installed

Should I remove Alawar Ask Toolbar?

What percent of users and experts removed it?
76% remove it24% keep it
Overall Sentiment
Bad
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Reach 0.0004%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 25.25 days
744.76 days >
Average installed length: 391.32 days

Versions

VersionDistribution
1.15.25.0 28.57%
1.15.15.0 42.86%
1.15.1.0 14.29%
1.13.2.0 14.29%

Other programs by Ask.com

Alawar Ask Toolbar

What is Alawar Ask Toolbar?

Alawar Ask Toolbar, powered by ASK, 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. The Ask Toolbar and other applications are increasingly being bundled with programs; most notably freeware. It's usually installed during the installation of a program, and it's easy to miss the step where you can uncheck the Ask Toolbar option. 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. During installation, the user might be given the option to modify the home and search pages, however this is often checked by default and overlooked. Should the software be removed from the user's computer, the settings will need to be manually reverted back.

About  (from Ask.com)

This browser toolbar is customizable and will help you search the Internet with Ask and may provide other search features. If you consent to make Ask your default search,your Internet browser default search feature will be set to Ask and you will access Ask web search services by entering queries in your browser chrome...  Read more
Overview
  • Starts automatically
  • Loads into the web browser
  • The experts agree, you should remove it!

Program detailsProgram details

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\assets\oobe
Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{86D4B82A-ABED-442A-BE86-96357B70F4FE}
(The Windows Installer is used for the installation, maintenance, and removal.)
Estimated size: 2.22 MB

Program filesFiles installed by Alawar 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...

Program behaviorsBehaviors exhibited

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

Program resource utilizationResource utilization averages

updater.exe
Memory:3.99 MB
21.09 MB average
Total CPU:0.0015588601%
0.031193% average
Kernel CPU:0.00071959%
0.016088% average
User CPU:0.00083927%
0.015104% average
Switches/sec:88
70 average

How do I remove Alawar Ask Toolbar?

You can uninstall Alawar Ask 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 Alawar 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).
  3. Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Alawar Ask 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 Alawar Ask Toolbar you can restore them to their previous default settings.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome

OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 57%
Win XP 43%
 
HOW IT STARTS
Automatically starts? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
 
USER ACTIONS
Uninstall it 76%
Keep it 24%

Windows OS versionsWindows

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 57.14%
Windows XP 42.86%
Which OS releases does it run on?
Windows 7 Home Premium 42.86%
Microsoft Windows XP 42.86%
Windows 7 Ultimate 14.29%

Distribution by countryGeography

40.00% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
  United States 40.00%
  Poland 20.00%
  MA 10.00%
  France 10.00%
  Iran 10.00%
  Germany 10.00%

OEM distributionPC manufacturers

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
GIGABYTE 14.29%
ASUS 14.29%
Dell 14.29%
Sony 14.29%
American Megatrends 14.29%
Hewlett-Packard 14.29%
Lenovo 14.29%
Common models
Sony SVE1511S1EW 20.00%
LENOVO 7666AK7 20.00%
Dell Vostro A840 20.00%
HP 2000 Notebook PC 20.00%
Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H 20.00%

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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