Should I remove Ask Shopping Toolbar?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
79% remove it21% keep it
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #4,523
United States Rank #4,061
Reach 0.1165%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 16.34 days
482.08 days >
Average installed length: 253.29 days
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
Ask Shopping Toolbar
What is Ask Shopping Toolbar?
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."
About (from APN)
The Shopping toolbar by Ask enhances user shopping experience by offering an enhanced shopping search results, links to popular shopping sites and/or content such as coupons, special offers and the latest deals from many merchants. It includes rich content, a variety of product listings and visual product search result... Read more
Overview
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).
- Possible malware installed by this program
- Automatically starts with Windows
- Loads into the web browser
- Typically distributed through a pay-per-install bundle
- The wisdom of the crowd agrees, you should remove it!
Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in Ask Shopping Toolbar.
tbnotifier.exe (f332813cc013d6af5c5a0c32a3aed725) has been flagged by the following 4 scanners: |
Anti-Virus software | Version | Detection |
Baidu-International |
4.0.3.15817 |
Adware.Win32.Asktoolbar.45 |
ESET-NOD32 |
9.12098 |
a variant of Win32/Bundled.Toolbar.Ask.M potentially unsafe |
K7 AntiVirus |
13.2016900 |
Unwanted-Program |
K7GW |
13.2016900 |
Unwanted-Program ( 004c42951 ) |
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 details
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}
(The Windows Installer is used for the installation, maintenance, and removal.)
Estimated size: 582 KB
Files installed by Ask Shopping Toolbar
Program executable: | tbnotifier.exe |
Name: | Ask TBNotifier |
| Ask Toolbar Notifier |
Path: | C:\Program Files\askpartnernetwork\toolbar\updater\tbnotifier.exe |
MD5: | 4b96654025b28eeb1e5d8f001e5d1b8a |
| (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. ” |
Additional files:
-
idcsrvstub.dll - IDC Server Stub
-
idcsrvstub_x64.dll
Behaviors 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 1.
Startup File (All Users Run)
- tbnotifier.exe is loaded in the all users (HKLM) registry as a startup file name 'ApnTBMon' 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'.
Resource utilization averages
Show technical details
tbnotifier.exe |
Memory: | 7.6 MB | |
Total CPU: | 0.0017233260% | |
Kernel CPU: | 0.00077767% | |
User CPU: | 0.00094565% | |
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.
- 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 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).
- Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Ask Shopping 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.
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
- Open Internet Explorer and click the Tools button, and then click Internet options.
- 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.
- The changes will take effect the next time you open IE.
Mozilla Firefox
- At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button, go over to the Help sub-menu and select Troubleshooting Information.
- To continue, click Reset Firefox in the confirmation window that opens. It will close and be reset.
- When it's done, a window will list the information that was imported. Click Finish and Firefox will open.
Google Chrome
- Open Chrome and click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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%
|
|
Windows
Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 |
59.34% |
|
Windows 10 |
19.02% |
|
Windows Vista |
13.76% |
|
Windows XP |
7.84% |
|
Windows Server 2003 |
0.04% |
|
Which OS releases does it run on? |
Windows 7 Home Premium |
42.94% |
|
Windows Vista Home Premiu... |
10.87% |
|
Microsoft Windows XP |
7.67% |
|
Windows 7 Professional |
6.92% |
|
Windows 7 Ultimate |
6.92% |
|
Windows 8.1 |
6.84% |
|
Geography
50.59% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
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% |
PC manufacturers
What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Hewlett-Packard |
33.27% |
|
Dell |
23.88% |
|
Acer |
16.54% |
|
Toshiba |
6.76% |
|
ASUS |
5.84% |
|
Samsung |
4.20% |
|
GIGABYTE |
2.76% |
|
Lenovo |
2.03% |
|
Medion |
1.38% |
|
Sahara |
1.18% |
|
American Megatrends |
1.12% |
|
Intel |
1.05% |
|
Common models |
HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook ... |
6.70% |
|
HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... |
6.07% |
|
HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... |
4.05% |
|
Dell Inspiron 1545 |
3.74% |
|
HP Pavilion g7 Notebook P... |
3.12% |
|
HP G62 Notebook PC |
2.80% |
|