exasperated wrote:I had the problem three times with Ask.com. First, it was a toolbar. I googled and found the Ask site and they told me that some malicious entity had removed the uninstall feature from my computer. So they gave me a way to remove it. Then my computer slowed way down, seconds between a key press and its appearance on the screen. That time, using Hackthis, I found that Ask had slipped into my Registry and I removed it. Things started working normally again, but then my browser was redirected again. I searched for the Ask.com site but it no longer gave me the good advice. I read this site. I found an Ask.com cookie. I removed the cookie. What's next?
If the Ask.com toolbar isn't showing up in Windows Control Panel's list of installed programs or in Firefox "Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions" see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_toolbars for other ways of removing it. The Ask.com toolbar may be listed in the Firefox Extensions list under another name, since it can be bundled with other software.
You may also need to reset any Ask.com preferences listed in about:config . If that doesn't work or if the entries come back, reset all preferences using the information here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Resetting_preferences#Resetting_all_preferences_to_program_defaults. You may need to use the manual method of deleting preference files, since it is possible that a user.js file may have been added by whatever installed Ask.com in the first place, which will add back any preferences you try to remove.
You can check the references for the Ask.com Toolbar listed here,
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problematic_extensions#Ask_Toolbar in case they are helpful.
Also scan your system for spyware and other malware. A list of recommended malware removers and online forums that can help you are listed here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Check_for_malware
