84,488,480 programs installed

Should I remove MediaCaster by Ask?

What percent of users and experts removed it?
79% remove it21% keep it
Overall Sentiment
Bad
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #13,226
United States Rank #39,446
Reach 0.0232%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 8.60 days
253.81 days >
Average installed length: 133.36 days

Versions

VersionDistribution
12.45.1.1271 1.75%
12.40.6.947 0.44%
12.40.4.416 0.22%
12.38.0.3406 0.88%
12.35.0.2734 0.22%
12.35.0.2479 1.53%
12.34.1.2247 0.66%
12.29.0.1530 3.06%
12.27.0.1061 3.94%
12.15.2.537 44.42%
12.11.0.5199 42.89%

MediaCaster by Ask

What is MediaCaster by Ask?

MediaCaster is an Ask.com advertising-supported web browser toolbar that may modify the browser's home page, search provider and new tab pages. Changes to the browser include the following modifications:

- Modify the default home page and new tabs and protect these search settings
- Modify the default search engine in your Internet Browser, including the browser's built-in search box
- Addition of alternative error page functionality, such as “Page Not Found”

Overview

The most used version is 12.15.2.537, 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 ToolbarIcon.exe. Typically most users end up uninstalling this just after a few days. The software installer includes 14 files.
  • Possible malware installed by this program
  • Automatically starts with Windows
  • Typically distributed through a pay-per-install bundle
  • Hijacks the web browser's home page
  • Hijacks the browser's default search provider
  • The wisdom of the crowd agrees, you should remove it!
Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in MediaCaster by Ask.
tbnotifier.exe (f332813cc013d6af5c5a0c32a3aed725) has been flagged by the following 4 scanners:
Anti-Virus softwareVersionDetection
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 )
MediaCaster by Ask has been found to be bundled with 3rd party software. If you have not purposefully installed this, you should be safe uninstalling it.

Program detailsProgram details

URL: www.apn.ask.com/products/toolbars
Help link: apnstatic.ask.com/static/toolbar/everest/documents/faq/index.html
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\vnt
Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{4254522D-5637-006A-76A7-A75C790C0B00}
(The Windows Installer is used for the installation, maintenance, and removal.)

Program filesFiles installed by MediaCaster by Ask

Program executable:ToolbarIcon.exe
Path:C:\Windows\Installer\{4254522D-5637-006A-76A7-A75C790C0B00}\ToolbarIcon.exe
MD5:2b37e1d54f3c2bfc4f2b042dab3767fd
Additional files:
  • vntldr.exe - Virtual New Tab (Virtual New Tab Loader)
  • vntsrv.dll - Virtual New Tab Server
  • tbnotifier.exe - Ask TBNotifier (Ask Toolbar Notifier)
  • apnnativemsghost.exe - APN Native Messaging Host
  • com.apn.native_messaging_host_panpiecllaicaafneoofcmdgmbcihhnd.json
  • tbnhlpr_x64.exe - APN Toolbar Notifier Helper
  • idcldr.exe - IDC (IDC Loader)
  • idcsrv.dll - IdcSrv (IDC Server)
  • idcsrvstub.dll - IDC Server Stub

Program behaviorsBehaviors exhibited

Scheduled Task (Boot/Login)
  • tbnotifier.exe is automatically launched at startup through a scheduled task named 1.
Startup File (User Run)
  • vntldr.exe is loaded in the current user (HKCU) registry as an auto-starting executable named 'VNT' and executes as "C:\Program Files\VNT\vntldr.exe".
2 Startup Files (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".
  • vntldr.exe is loaded in the all users (HKLM) registry as a startup file name 'VNT' which loads as "C:\Program Files\VNT\vntldr.exe".
Windows Firewall Allowed Program
  • tbnotifier.exe is added as a firewall exception for 'C:\Program Files\AskPartnerNetwork\Toolbar\Updater\TBNotifier.exe'.

Program resource utilizationResource utilization averages

vntldr.exe
Memory:1.63 MB
21.09 MB average
Total CPU:0.0000866634%
0.031193% average
Kernel CPU:0.00003063%
0.016088% average
User CPU:0.00005603%
0.015104% average
CPU cycles/sec:385,474
8,062,084 average
I/O reads/min:64.15 KB
435.61 KB average

How do I remove MediaCaster by Ask?

You can uninstall MediaCaster by Ask 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 MediaCaster by Ask, 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 MediaCaster by Ask.
  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.

OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 52%
Win XP 0%
 
HOW IT STARTS
Automatically starts? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
 
USER ACTIONS
Uninstall it 79%
Keep it 21%

Windows OS versionsWindows

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
Windows 7 61.57%
Windows 10 32.97%
Windows XP 4.59%
Windows Vista 0.87%
Which OS releases does it run on?
Windows 7 Ultimate 26.75%
Windows 7 Home Premium 16.45%
Windows 7 Professional 12.50%
Windows 8.1 Single Langua... 8.11%
Windows 8.1 7.46%
Windows 8.1 Pro 5.70%

Distribution by countryGeography

6.90% of installs come from Brazil
Which countries install it?
  Brazil 6.90%
  United States 5.57%
  Russia 5.12%
  MA 4.90%
  DZ 4.23%
  Saudi Arabia 3.79%
  Turkey 3.56%
  DK 3.12%
  Poland 3.12%
  UA 2.67%
  Greece 2.67%
  Philippines 2.45%
  Egypt 2.45%
  France 2.23%

OEM distributionPC manufacturers

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
Hewlett-Packard 21.75%
Acer 19.81%
Dell 16.56%
ASUS 15.91%
Toshiba 7.47%
GIGABYTE 6.17%
Lenovo 5.19%
Samsung 4.87%
MSI 0.97%
Apple 0.65%
Sony 0.65%
Common models
HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... 4.82%
ASUS All Series 4.22%
Dell Inspiron 3521 4.22%
HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook ... 3.61%
Gigabyte G41MT-S2PT 3.01%
HP ProBook 4540s 2.41%

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