eradicating ask.com?

A

anthony

Although I'm armed, thanks to this group's great advice, with the best
malware, spyware, Trojan detection devices etc, I find myself unable
to eradicate the malign commercial intervention of 'ask.com' which
seems at regular intervals to hijack my Firefox browser and launch
into its own search engine, even when I do something so seemingly
straightforward as type in one of my favourite sites, www.imdb.com.
In desperation I downloaded the new Google browser. Searched in the
Google addresss bar (as per instructions) weather for my region of
Australia, and up came ... yes, Ask.com. Not even my preferred search-
engine, Google, which I would have thought would have been the
automatic default option for the Google browser.
Has anyone found a way to rid themselves of this pesky bit of unwanted
software? I did follow instructions to reset Firefox's preferred
search URL, and that worked for about a week -- then ask.com bounced
back.
Here's the instructions I found on the Net for clearing Ask.com from
Firefox -- if anyone has more lasting suggestions, I'd be grateful. I
have searched Firefox's own Help files and found recommendations to go
into their Chrome file and delete certain files -- I looked, and the
files they named weren't there.
1. Open a new tab or window.
2. Type “about:config” and hit enter, this brings up the all powerful
settings of Firefox.
3. Agree to the warning that you could mess things up
4. Find keyword.url, you probably should not change anything else
5. Double click and change keyword.url string to something else like
http://www.google.com/search?q=
 
M

Mick Murphy

Go into XP's Control Panel>Add and Remove Programs>Uninstall it from there.
You will find the Ask Toolbar listed there.
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

See http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm

If no joy...

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

Run a /thorough/ check for hijackware, including posting your hijackthis log
to an appropriate forum.

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v2.0.2
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.exe) is the preferred tool to use (in
conjunction with some other utilities). HijackThis will NOT fix anything on
its own, but it will help you to both identify and remove any
hijackware/spyware with assistance from an expert. **Post your log to
http://spywarehammer.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?board=10.0,
http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or another appropriate forum for review
by an expert in such matters, not here.**

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA or Geek Squad) computer repair shop.
 

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