Should I remove Ask Shopping Toolbar?

Lifespan of installation (until removal)

Versions

Version	Distribution
12.45.1.1291	0.04%
12.45.1.45	1.13%
12.45.1.44	0.30%
12.40.6.1102	0.04%
12.40.6.1065	0.04%
12.40.6.984	0.04%
12.40.6.29	1.87%
12.40.6.27	0.30%
12.40.4.572	0.04%
12.40.4.535	0.04%
12.40.4.88	0.26%
12.40.4.79	0.04%
12.40.3.4114	0.04%
12.40.3.4105	0.04%
12.40.2.471	0.22%
12.40.1.3783	0.13%
12.38.1.408	0.44%
12.38.0.3277	0.04%
12.38.0.403	0.26%
12.38.0.395	0.17%
12.38.0.387	1.52%
12.38.0.385	0.48%
12.37.1.364	0.61%
12.37.0.2803	0.04%
12.37.0.354	1.35%
12.37.0.352	0.22%
12.35.0.2656	0.04%
12.35.0.2654	0.04%
12.35.0.2480	0.04%
12.35.0.289	0.44%
12.35.0.286	1.13%
12.34.1.2289	0.09%
12.34.1.274	0.57%
12.34.1.256	0.26%
12.33.2.233	0.13%
12.29.0.1913	0.04%
12.29.0.1899	0.04%
12.29.0.1893	0.09%
12.29.0.1770	0.30%
12.29.0.1732	0.04%
12.29.0.1638	0.13%
12.29.0.225	0.91%
12.29.0.222	4.62%
12.28.1.1368	0.13%
12.28.1.1362	0.04%
12.28.1.1300	0.04%
12.28.1.1258	0.09%
12.28.1.1249	0.09%
12.28.1.168	1.70%
12.28.1.165	3.79%
12.27.0.1124	0.04%
227 versions

Other programs by APN

• Ask Toolbar
• Search-Results Toolbar
• Movies Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Bandoo Media, Inc.
• Movies Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by Bandoo Media, Inc.
• KMP Media Toolbar
• Movies Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by Somoto Ltd.
• Movies Toolbar for Firefox Dist. by Bandoo Media, Inc.
• Avira SearchFree Toolbar plus Web Protection
• Movies Toolbar for Firefox Dist. by Somoto Ltd.
• Movies Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Somoto Ltd.
• Movies Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Koyote-Lab, Inc.
• Music Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Bandoo Media, Inc.
• Sopcast Toolbar
• Music Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by Bandoo Media, Inc.
• Ask Toolbar for Epson
• Movies Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by Koyote-Lab, Inc.
• Music Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Koyote-Lab, Inc.
• Music Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by Koyote-Lab, Inc.
• Movies Toolbar for Firefox Dist. by Koyote-Lab, Inc.
• Music Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Musiclab, Inc.
• Music Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by Musiclab, Inc.
• Music Box Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Musiclab, Inc.
• Sammsoft Toolbar
• Music Box Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by iMesh, Inc.
• Music Box Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by iMesh, Inc.
• Music Box Toolbar for Internet Explorer Dist. by Koyote-Lab, Inc.
• Search App powered by Search Better
• Music Box Toolbar for Chrome Dist. by Koyote-Lab, Inc.
• Ask Media Toolbar
• Savevid Toolbar powered by Search-Results
• iYogi Toolbar
• Frostwire secure Toolbar

Rankings

• #4,518 Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 - de-de
• #4,519 Autodesk Material Library Medium Resolution Image Library 2015
• #4,520 ZDServer by ZTE
• #4,521 eMachines ScreenSaver by Acer
• #4,522 TOSHIBA Addendum
• #4,523 Ask Shopping Toolbar by APN
• #4,524 Adobe Photoshop 6.0
• #4,525 LG CyberLink PowerProducer
• #4,526 HAWKEN by Adhesive Games
• #4,527 Samsung PC Studio 3
• #4,528 PokerStars.eu

from APN LLC

Remove Ask Shopping Toolbar by APN

This is an Ask.com ad-injection toolbar that is bundled with various 3rd-party programs and installers. From the site: "The enhanced shopping search experience includes rich content, a variety of product listings, and visual product search results. These shopping results provide additional sponsored rich content such as product image, price and merchant. Products are available from multiple merchants. Please note: features and functionality may differ based on your locale, browser and version of the Shopping Toolbar."

The most used version is 12.29.0.222, with over 56% 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 tbnotifier.exe. Typically most users end up uninstalling this just after a few days. The software installer includes 21 files and is usually about 582 KB (595,968 bytes).

Displayed publisher: APN, LLC

URL: help.ask.com/link/portal/30015/30018/Article/227/What-features-does-the-Shopping-Toolbar-by-Ask-offer

Help link: apnstatic.ask.com/static/toolbar/everest/documents/faq/index.html

Installation folder: C:\Program Files\askpartnernetwork\toolbar\updater

Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{4F524A00-6A76-A76A-76A7-A758B70C0A06}

Estimated size: 582 KB

tbnotifier.exe
Memory:	7.6 MB	21.09 MB average
Total CPU:	0.0017233260%	0.031193% average
Kernel CPU:	0.00077767%	0.016088% average
User CPU:	0.00094565%	0.015104% average

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.

1. Open Internet Explorer and click the Tools button, and then click Internet options.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset. Select the Delete personal settings check box if you would also like to remove search providers, Accelerators and home pages. When Internet Explorer finishes applying default settings, click Close, and then click OK.
3. The changes will take effect the next time you open IE.

1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, go over to the Help sub-menu and select Troubleshooting Information.
2. To continue, click Reset Firefox in the confirmation window that opens. It will close and be reset.
3. When it's done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click Finish and Firefox will open.

1. Open Chrome and click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
2. Select Settings. In the "Search" section, click Manage search engine. Check if (Default) is displayed next to your preferred search engine. If not, mouse over it and click Make default. Mouse over any other suspicious search engine entries that are not familiar and click X to remove them.
3. When the "Show Home button" checkbox is selected, a web address appears below it. If you want the Homepage button to open up a different webpage, click Change to enter a link.
4. Restart Google Chrome.

OS VERSIONS Win 7 (SP1) 56% Win 10 0%

HOW IT STARTS Automatically starts? Yes (Found in the run registry)

USER ACTIONS Uninstall it 79% Keep it 21%

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?

United States	50.59%
Germany	8.58%
United Kingdom	4.78%
Canada	3.42%
France	2.96%
Australia	2.48%
Norway	2.34%
DK	2.20%
Netherlands	1.81%
Italy	1.81%
Belgium	1.74%
Brazil	1.67%
Sweden	1.26%
Austria	1.15%

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?

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