Ask Toolbar Frequently Asked Questions - Internet Explorer | Firefox| Google Chrome

Overview

What is the Ask Toolbar?

The Ask Toolbar is a free browser add-on that allows you to search the Web using the Ask.com search engine directly from Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers.

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Will the Toolbar work with my Web browser and operating system?

The Toolbar will work with Internet Explorer versions 6 and higher. The Toolbar supports 32 bit versions of Windows XP and Vista. Click here to read about Firefox compatibility.

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How do I determine which Internet Explorer browser version I have?

Go to the Help menu located at the top of your browser. Select "About Internet Explorer". A window will appear that tells you what version you have.

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What are the system requirements for installing the Toolbar?

Installing the Toolbar requires roughly 2 MB of free disk space on your drive. If you are currently able to run a supported Web browser on your computer, you should have no problem running our Toolbar. In addition to free space on your hard drive, you will need a supported Web browser and operating system , a computer with 256MB of RAM, a mouse or similar pointing device and Internet access.

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Does the Toolbar track where I go on the Internet?

No! We do not engage in click stream tracking or keystroke logging. We value your right to privacy are passionate about winning and keeping your trust as a valued user. Please review Ask.com’s privacy policy here for more information.

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Is your Toolbar "spyware"?

NO! We are completely "spyware" and "adware"-free. Period! Our Toolbar was specifically designed to provide a great user experience free of spyware, adware, data collection or other similar activities. In order to achieve that goal:

The toolbar software DOES NOT monitor the websites visited by the end user, collect or in any manner report any information about what sites an end users visits (or any click stream activity), nor does it monitor or scrape information when you are on other sites.
The toolbar software DOES NOT serve or facilitate contextual advertising or pop-up ads. Many applications are identified as spyware because they monitor end-user Internet usage and serve contextual pop-ups. Our Toolbar does not engage in any such practices.
We do NOT require you to provide any personal information. No email address, registration or other information is required to use the product. Unlike many other products, we do not attempt to collect data upon startup as a requirement of use.

In short, the Toolbar provides a superior search experience on an ANONYMOUS basis and without any additional monitoring, contextual ads or other nuisances.

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Toolbar Disabling, Uninstall and Home Page / New Tab / Default search reset

How do I disable the Toolbar?

You can easily disable the Toolbar using the instructions listed below that correspond to your browser.

If you want to disable the Toolbar in Internet Explorer:

Go to your Tools menu in the browser and select Internet Options
Within the Programs, click on the Manage Add-Ons
Select the Ask Toolbar (or our partner’s brand for a custom Toolbar) and then click Disable at the bottom of the screen

If you want to disable the Toolbar in FireFox:

Go to your Tools menu in the browser
Select Add-Ons
Select and highlight the Ask Toolbar (or our partner’s brand for a custom Toolbar)
Click the Disable button

How do I uninstall the Toolbar?

You can easily uninstall the Toolbar using the instructions listed below that correspond to your operating system.

NOTE: Before proceeding, we recommend that you reboot your computer.

If you have the Windows 7 or Vista operating system:

Go to the Start Menu and select Control Panel
Under Programs or Programs and Features click on Uninstall a program
Select the Ask Toolbar (or our partner’s brand for a custom Toolbar), then select Uninstall/Change and then, when prompted, click Yes or Uninstall

If you have the Windows XP operating system:

Go to the Start Menu and select Control Panel
Click the Add or Remove Programs icon
Select the Ask Toolbar (or our partner’s brand for a custom Toolbar), then click on the Remove or Change/Remove

If you have the Windows XP in Classic View or Windows 95 or 98 operating system:

Go to the Start Menu and select Settings, and then Control Panel
Select the Add or Remove Programs
Select/highlight the Ask Toolbar (or our partner’s brand for a custom Toolbar) and click on the Remove button
Follow the prompts to uninstall the Ask Toolbar

You can also uninstall the toolbar directly from the toolbar:

Click on the Option button on the toolbar
Select Uninstall from the Option widget
Click Yes when asked "Are you sure you want to uninstall this product"
Close all open web browsers when prompted
Click OK on the popup window

We ask that once you have uninstalled the Ask Toolbar that you reboot your computer to ensure that the uninstall process is complete.

If you get an error message during the uninstall process or after rebooting your system you still see the toolbar, please run this application to clean up the toolbar: ToolbarRemover.exe

Warning: Before using the cleaning tool, please make sure that you tried rebooting your computer and uninstalling from Windows' control panel. The cleaning tool will force browsers to shut down and could yield unexpected behavior.

Why do I receive an error message requesting that I close all browser windows? I don't see any open browser windows.

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My homepage is changed to Ask.com, how do I change it?

Internet Explorer allows you to change your browser home page at any time. In the Internet Explorer browser command bar, select "Tools" and then "Internet Options" from the drop down menu. Type your desired home page in the "Home Page" section in the top of the window.

My new tab page has been set to my homepage, how do I change it?

Internet Explorer allows you to change your browser new tab page at any time. In the Internet Explorer browser command bar, select "Tools" and then "Internet Options" from the drop down menu. Click the "General" tab, and then, under Tabs, click "Settings". In the "Tabbed Browsing Settings" dialog box, click the drop down which will enable you to change your new tab settings to a blank page, the IE new tab page, or your first homepage.

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My default search engine is set to Ask.com, how do I change it?

Access the Internet Options menu under "Tools"

Under the "General" tab, find the Search section and click the "Settings" button.

Find your preferred search engine name in the list and click the "Set as default" button (located at the bottom right of the screen.) If your preferred search engine name is not listed, add it by clicking on the "Find more search providers" link (found on the bottom left of the screen.)

You can remove any unwanted search engines from the list by highlighting the name and clicking the "Remove" button on the bottom right.

Toolbar Features

How does the Highlight feature work?

The highlight feature easily allows you to locate your search terms on the search results page(s). Clicking the "Highlight" button will highlight all your search terms in yellow on the search results page. If you elect to keep the "Highlight" turned on, it will highlight those search terms on all web (HTML) pages whether they are accessed through the Ask Toolbar, your web browser, or other sources. The highlight feature is a toggle switch that may be turned "on" or "off" simply by clicking on it.

If you would like to highlight other terms on the web page, type the word(s) you would like highlighted in the search box (do not click the "Enter" key) and click the highlight button again; the new term will automatically be highlighted.

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How do I delete my search history?

To clear your search history from the drop-down text box in the Toolbar, click on the ”Options” icon to open the drop-down menu. Select the "Clear History" option. This will clear all the previous searches from the search drop-down box.

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What is "Resize"?

The "Resize" button allows you to enlarge or shrink a page you are viewing. All text and images can be magnified to 125%, 150% and 200%, or reduced to 75% and 50%. Note that some content like embedded video and dynamic objects cannot be resized.

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Navigating and Customizing

Can I hide the Ask Toolbar from my browser?

In Internet Explorer, you can hide the Toolbar by doing the following:

Go to the "View" menu at the top of your browser.
Select "Toolbars"
Click "Ask Toolbar" to hide; click again to unhide.

How do I move my Toolbar?

To move your Toolbar, simply click on the separator bar on the far left and drag the Toolbar to the desired location. Please note that on Internet Explorer 6.0 the toolbars are locked by default. In this case the separator icon will not appear, and the toolbars will be immobile, until you right click on the toolbars and uncheck "Lock the Toolbars".

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How do I resize the search box?

To resize the search box, point your mouse on the grab line to the right of the search box. When the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow, hold down the mouse button and drag to the left or right.

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Browser settings' protection

What is being protected and why?

The protection offered covers your browser's homepage. These browser settings can be hijacked by applications without your explicit content. For instance, certain applications bypass the browser's native mechanism that gives you control of the change.

The Browser settings' protection mechanisms offered with the Ask Toolbar allows you to stay in control of your settings by preventing changes done by third-party applications. As soon as a change is detected, a message box will inform you of the situation. It will then be possible to block the change or allow it. The feature will continue protecting your settings silently.

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How can I enable/disable this feature?

Look for the Toolbar Options icon found on your toolbar.

From the Toolbar Options, you can check/uncheck the text box that turns the feature on/off:

Troubleshooting

I installed the Toolbar, but it does not appear. Why?

The Toolbar may be hidden. In Internet Explorer, do the following to unhide the Toolbar:

Go to the "View" menu at the top of your browser
Select "Toolbars"
Click "Ask Toolbar" to unhide the Ask Toolbar

If at some point you uninstalled the Ask Toolbar, and you are using a Microsoft browser, you may experience difficulty seeing it right away if you attempt to re-install it. The easiest way to make the Toolbar reappear is to close and restart your Web browser.

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My browser says that I do not have the system requirements to install the Toolbar.

In order to use the Ask Toolbar, your operating system must be a 32 bit version of Windows XP or Windows Vista.

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My browser says "user certificate invalid" when I attempt to download the Toolbar.

You need to update your Internet Explorer browser to a more recent version.

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Internet Explorer says "current security setting prohibit running" when downloading the Ask Toolbar.

Internet Explorer 6.0:

Go to the "Tools" menu at the top of your browser
Select "Internet Options"
Go to the "Security" tab and click the "Custom Level" button, then choose "Medium Safety" under "Software channel permissions" and click "OK"

I've tried several times to install the Toolbar, but it still fails. What should I do?

Have you checked to see if your problem is addressed by any of the others listed on this FAQ? If your installation problem is not addressed by this FAQ, please send an email detailing the problem.

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How do I report a problem?

To report a problem with your Toolbar, please send us an email detailing the problem. Be sure to include your Operating system (e.g., Windows XP) and browser version (e.g., Internet Explorer 7) to help us better serve you.

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Why do I receive an error message requesting that I close all browser windows? I don't see any open browser windows.

In order to uninstall the toolbar, all IE, Firefox and Google Chrome browser windows must be closed. If you are receiving an error message window like this one when attempting to uninstall the Ask Toolbar please close all browser windows.

If it appears that all browser windows are closed, it is possible that there are hidden windows running in the background. Please restart your machine to make sure all applications are shut down and try again.

Advanced users can follow these steps to close any open browser windows that may not be visible:

Press 'Ctrl+Shift+Escape' on your keyboard to open the 'Windows Task Manager'.
Click on the 'Processes' tab and look for the IE, Firefox or Google Chrome executables (iexplorer.exe, firefox.exe and chrome.exe respectively).
Select the running processes and click 'End Process' on each one.
A warning message will pop up asking you to confirm your choice. Click on the 'End process' button to close the browser.

Once you have completed the steps above, please return to the Add/Remove Programs section of your computer's control panel, select Ask Toolbar (or partner toolbar name) from the list, and then click uninstall.

If you get an error message during the uninstall process or after rebooting your system you still see the toolbar, please run this application to clean up the toolbar: ToolbarRemover.exe

Warning: Before using the cleaning tool, please make sure that you tried rebooting your computer and uninstalling from Windows' control panel. The cleaning tool will force browsers to shut down and could yield unexpected behavior.

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