latest Firefox update brings up Ask.com for any search

[homer!]

wow you are a hero for figuring this out and posting, thank you soo much!!!

[vaskess]

THANK YOU !!!


Saved my day!

[Guest]

Wow Thank you so much I didn't want to start using exploder again, but this bods badly for firefox.

[Guest]

Fantastic work -- thanks!

[rochelle0123]

I tried the steps mentioned and I'm still getting the search area. This is what happens for me:

1. My homepage is set to http://www.google.com/firefox?client=fi ... S:official.
2. I type in "ebay" for my search.
3. My search results display www.ebay.com/ as the first site listed.
4. I select the link to go to the ebay site.
5. Instead of being taken to www.ebay.com I am taken to http://www.findstuff.com/search.php?uvx ... redir=true
6. The link also opens up in a new tab which never use to happen.

I am using Windows XP and Firefox version 3.0.4

Please help!

[IH8ask]

I use Fire Fox 3.0.5 and this xxx started happening to me a few days ago, when FF updated itself. Ask.com completely took over my xxx settings, and it even knocked out my LAN and Wireless drivers into space. I fixed most of it, I went into IE settings and set Google as my default search engine again. I used McAfee, Hijack This, and CCleaner, and the xxx pop up seems to have disappeared. Most of those pop ups said "bediddle.com" at the top, and it xxx me off. Now, on Fire Fox, I can't seem to get rid of the xxx redirect. I HATE ask.com, and I cannot find any settings to rid myself of this xxx either. Someone please help!!

[IH8ask]

Search brings up Ask.com instead of Google

The answer is in the Advanced Firefox Settings.

My “right click” search [terms] was fine last night. It opened just fine in a new tab and searched via Google.
But this morning it went to Ask.com instead of Google.

So I did what I always do when I have a computer problem. I try to fix it myself and when I can’t, I call for my hubby [company computer guy – literally]!

I have pictures (PNGs) to go with the explanation of what to do so it’s easier to follow.

We did the usual routine checking of “tool options” [found nothing].
We then went to our control panel. We found and removed the “Ask Toolbar” from our Remove and Add Programs. Still, nothing.

Next we opened a new browser window, and into the address bar we typed, “about:config”
In short, once the list was brought up, we searched for anything with ASK [that refered to the ask.com site] or ask.com, removed it [modify] AND replaced it with Google.

Problem solved!

Directions:
Upon opening the list, you’ll see: Preference Name, Status, Type and Value.
Under “Preference Name”, search for: Keyword.URL
Under “Value” it will say, http://toolbar.ask.com/toolbarv/askRedi ... t=&gc=1&q=
Change that by right clicking on it and choosing “Modify”, and changing it to:
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=

Before Pic: http://kd8cmv.us/change-aboutconfig_keyword1_found.png
After Modified: http://kd8cmv.us/change-aboutconfig_key ... hanged.png

Next, in the filter: type in “ask” and look for anything that says ask.com to bring up a smaller, more refined list.

Under “Preference Name” look for “extensions.snipit.chromeURL”.
It will show: http://toolbar.ask.com/toolbarv/askRedi ... t=&gc=1&q={sear...
Highlight it, and click “Reset”. This will erase the “Value”. Leave it blank. If it doesn’t, then click “Modify” to remove it manually, click “ok”.
(*note, after closing your about.config window, it will be totally removed from the list)

Before and After: http://kd8cmv.us/change-aboutconfig_key ... emoved.png

Next, in the filter, type in “browser” and under the “Preference Name” look for:
“Browser.search.defaultenginename”
For the “Value”, it will show ASK, “Modify” it so it says: Google

Pic: http://kd8cmv.us/change-aboutconfig_key ... odifed.png

Then under “Preference Name” find: “browser.search.order.1” and “Modify” it from ASK to Google

Pic: http://kd8cmv.us/change-aboutconfig_keyword8_modify.png

Finally, find: “browser.search.selectedEngine” and “Modify” it from ASK to Google

Pic: http://kd8cmv.us/change-aboutconfig_keyword9_modify.png

I hope this helps everyone.

KC8YCZ and KD8CMV

-- I am pretty savvy with getting rid of xxx, but this one had me stumped. You, sir or ma'am, are an internet hero. This worked immediately for me. Thank you for helping me rid myself of this frustration. I hope you have a happy new year:)!
I have booked marked this so everyone else can get the same answer I received. If I was rich, I'd give u a gazillion dollars as a thanx, but I'm not, so a thanx will have to suffice.
Thank you.
Rene

[Kyler07]

KC8YCZ & KD8CMV,

Thank you so much for putting up these instructions. I have followed them exactly three times, but am still having rough issues. When I do a google search and click on something that appears, my browser takes me to findstuff.com and an IE window for NeXplore pops up every freaking time.

My computer runs Win XP, Service Pack 3 and I use Mozilla FF 3.0.5. Only the first part of your instructions worked for me (this part)...Directions:
Upon opening the list, you’ll see: Preference Name, Status, Type and Value.
Under “Preference Name”, search for: Keyword.URL
Under “Value” it will say, http://toolbar.ask.com/toolbarv/askRedi ... t=&gc=1&q=
Change that by right clicking on it and choosing “Modify”, and changing it to:
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=

After getting past that part, nothing came up when looking for ask.com and I don't have anything that says extensions.snipit.chromeURL I changed the rest of the instructions to do what it says though.

However, upon browsing through my about:config, I noticed that I have something installed somewhere on my computer for adblockplus. I don't remember installing this. I also had the following thing installed and i'm not sure if this is normal or not.

extensions.{d10d0bf8-f5b5-c8b4-a8b2-2b9879e08c5d}.description;Ads were yesterday!

If you know of anything else I could do, please please let me know!!!

THANKS!

[kyler07]

Upon further investigation, I realized that adblock plus was something that I had installed as part of FF when I upgraded to this version, I just forgot about that part. However, I'm still being redirected around the universe when I google something. Is it possible for this problem to be transferable between browsers? I recently downloaded Google Chrome which worked fine until my FF started up. Now, when I open it up, it won't find any pages. I keep getting the, "ERROR: PAGE NOT FOUND" message. This is so frustrating. I would really appreciate anyone's help. Thanks.

[Guest]

Upon further investigation, I realized that adblock plus was something that I had installed as part of FF when I upgraded to this version, I just forgot about that part. However, I'm still being redirected around the universe when I google something. Is it possible for this problem to be transferable between browsers? I recently downloaded Google Chrome which worked fine until my FF started up. Now, when I open it up, it won't find any pages. I keep getting the, "ERROR: PAGE NOT FOUND" message. This is so frustrating. I would really appreciate anyone's help. Thanks.

ok people.This is the way to get back to the default settings of firefox. As stated before , go to about:config.Then scroll down until you see ask.com on the right hand side of the window.Right click and select reset.There are usually two entries so scroll down some more,and you will see another ask.com entry.Again right click and hit reset,and firefox will work like you remember.This works for any crappy search engine who leaches your browser(like crawler).Hope this helps>

[RUEDA]

Wonderfull...I ate ASK.com and I love your answer...This worked...MUCHAS GRACIAS GUEST...

[Kyler08]

Guest,

My problem is that I don't have anything for ask.com even though I sometimes get redirected there. I used to get directed there all the time, although now I'm being redirected to a completely blank page. Do you know which "Preference Name" in particular needs to be reset? Is there a way to reset all of them? Would it work if I completely uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled?

Thanks!

[Al Greene]

My laptop served up chicken fired motherboard so I bought a new laptop. I wanted to use the softer, easier way, so I bought a program that advertised that it would take the stuff off my old hard disk from a USB connection and put it on the new one. PC Mover by LapLink. Bad choice.

One of the selections REQUIRED me to accept and install the ask.com toolbar, or I could not buy PC Mover from LapLink. I did and my life has been a mess ever since. I know exactly the source of my ask.com install. It was not from my ISP. So there may be many sources. You know that I will not ever use ask.com again!

PC Mover will only work if you have two running computers, not from an external hard drive like I had. I had to rebuild my new computer with all the programs I run for my law office.

I had already installed FireFox 3.0.5 when I let PC Mover put ask.com on.

I started getting ask.com all the time. When I would use the Groowe fantastic toolbar, it still came up ask.com. I found the ask.com icon on my toolbar and deleted it like some here suggested. That totally trashed all of my settings, bookmarks, and extensions. Big mistake.

So I then had to remove and reinstall FireFox. That took a lot of time. Somehow ask.com was on my system and i started getting ask.com again. Tried all kinds of remedies, but none worked completely. I was able to get Groowe to do a search and found this thread.

I did the config procedure and simply reset all of the ask.com instances. That worked for me on FireFox. I am not sure if it is still in Internet Exploder, but I only really use it to download FireFox and a couple of bad sites that don't work in FireFox.

Many thanks to the ones that figured it out and posted here.

BTW, I do not recommend getting PC Mover since they force you to install the ask.com crap. Going to get my money back from them.

Al Greene

[Alice]

My problem is that I don't have anything for ask.com even though I sometimes get redirected there. I used to get directed there all the time, although now I'm being redirected to a completely blank page. Do you know which "Preference Name" in particular needs to be reset? Is there a way to reset all of them? Would it work if I completely uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled?
Thanks!

On resetting all preferences, see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Resetting_preferences#Resetting_all_preferences_to_program_defaults

Also read:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_search_or_add_new_engines#Searches_being_redirected

[exasperated]

My problem is that I don't have anything for ask.com even though I sometimes get redirected there. I used to get directed there all the time, although now I'm being redirected to a completely blank page. Do you know which "Preference Name" in particular needs to be reset? Is there a way to reset all of them? Would it work if I completely uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled?
Thanks!

On resetting all preferences, see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Resetting_preferences#Resetting_all_preferences_to_program_defaults

Also read:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_search_or_add_new_engines#Searches_being_redirected

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?