Should I remove Ask Social Toolbar?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
85% remove it15% keep it
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
Version | Distribution |
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% |
|
Rankings
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- #33,863 LIVE! Control Center 1.11
- #33,864 u-center by u-blox
- #33,865 SoftOrbits Photo Retoucher
- #33,866 Ask Social Toolbar by APN
- #33,867 SOS Photos perdues by Micro Application
- #33,868 Accent RAR Password Recovery by Passcovery Co
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Ask Social Toolbar
from APN, LLC
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 software | Version | Detection |
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 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
Files 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. ” |
Behaviors 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.
- 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 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).
- Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Ask Social 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 Social 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) 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
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% |
|
Geography
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% |
PC 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% |
|