Can't Remove Ask.com search program.

[Hopalong X]

Ask and About are the same search engine. I had forgotten that.

People became wise to Ask and its' removal so they started hiding it as About.

You can try searching though Windows Explorer. Highlight the drive to search and type Ask and/or About where the red arrow points below.
If you get results that are not web pages they may be the program.
Just a suggestion if you haven't tried it yet.

 

[koolkat77]

Ask and About are the same search engine. I had forgotten that.

People became wise to Ask and its' removal so they started hiding it as About.

You can try searching though Windows Explorer. Highlight the drive to search and type Ask and/or About where the red arrow points below.
If you get results that are not web pages they may be the program.
Just a suggestion if you haven't tried it yet.

good suggestion.

 

[Hopalong X]

The last time I had to uninstall the #^&## ASK that is how I found it.

It has been a few months and I almost totally forgot.
Only took two days to remember.

 

[flemur13013]

Brute force method - it takes some guessing so be careful:

Make a backup.

Search the registry for 'Ask' and 'About'. See which files the entries might point to, so you can delete those files, and delete the reg entries if they look appropriate.

Search C: for files named *ask* or *about*. Delete them if they look appropriate.

Search for (likely) files containing the strings 'ask' or 'about'. Same as above.

 

[toglenn]

Oh it appears that I'm stuck with it for now but I'm not giving up and the folks here have been very helpful and I find it challenging.

I hate low life companies that resort to this type of method to promote their inferior products that failed in the open market place.

did you try the steps in my other posts?

There is no Ask.com toolbar involved. I've handled Ask.com intrusions before and this is different. I don't believe it resides in the browsers and is only activated by speech recognition commands. As of now, after the speech command, IE displays Ask.com and Firefox displays About.com. Without using speech commands there is no trace of the programs in the browsers. I'm now hoping Dragon Speech Recognition Support can offer some help.

 

[toglenn]

Brute force method - it takes some guessing so be careful:

Make a backup.

Search the registry for 'Ask' and 'About'. See which files the entries might point to, so you can delete those files, and delete the reg entries if they look appropriate.

Search C: for files named *ask* or *about*. Delete them if they look appropriate.

Search for (likely) files containing the strings 'ask' or 'about'. Same as above.

These were the first steps I tried and Ask.com does not appear in the directory or in searches. I tried a restore of an earlier time and that did not remove them either.

 

[koolkat77]

so what do you think is the solution to this problem now

 

[Britton30]

Check inside of the IE and Firefox program folders, both x86 and x64, to see if they are planted inside there. Also have Show Hidden System folders enabled.

 

[toglenn]

so what do you think is the solution to this problem now

I beginning to think that the problem has nothing to do with the browsers because the browsers are closed when I issue the vocal search commands and if I don't use vocal commands and open the browsers in the normal way everything is fine. It seems the word "search" activates the ask.com and about.com search programs. If I say "search google for......" ask.com or about.com are not activated.

I've done three searchs of my four hard drives and nothing has turned up, probably because they use some other name. I removed all cookies and popups but the problem still exists.

I've contacted the speech recognition maker and asked for support but so far they have only offered the simplist solutions that have already been tried several times but I'll keep trying.

 

[koolkat77]

so what do you think is the solution to this problem now

I beginning to think that the problem has nothing to do with the browsers because the browsers are closed when I issue the vocal search commands and if I don't use vocal commands and open the browsers in the normal way everything is fine. It seems the word "search" activates the ask.com and about.com search programs. If I say "search google for......" ask.com or about.com are not activated.

I've done three searchs of my four hard drives and nothing has turned up, probably because they use some other name. I removed all cookies and popups but the problem still exists.

I've contacted the speech recognition maker and asked for support but so far they have only offered the simplist solutions that have already been tried several times but I'll keep trying.

hmm., well i just got to say: good luck with your trying

 

[Britton30]

Ask and About are the same search engine. I had forgotten that.

People became wise to Ask and its' removal so they started hiding it as About.

You can try searching though Windows Explorer. Highlight the drive to search and type Ask and/or About where the red arrow points below.
If you get results that are not web pages they may be the program.
Just a suggestion if you haven't tried it yet.

Check inside of the IE and Firefox program folders, both x86 and x64, to see if they are planted inside there. Also have Show Hidden System folders enabled.

Have you tried these? You have the search engines somewhere or they wouldn't show up. Maybe Dragon has it included.

 

[toglenn]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I've tried that on all my drives without success. What ever it is it probably has some obscure name to prevent it from being found or possibility hidden within a program, if possible. It's really not a serious problem as I can work around it and starting a web browser search with a vocal command is not high in my priorites but the idea of an uninvited intrusion makes me mad and there's really nothing I can do about it!

It's like dealing with the U.S. Congress.

 

[Hopalong X]

I just thought of something.

Go here to this tutorial. Start at Step #2. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/4590-task-manager-show-services-running-under-svchost-exe.html

Open Task Manager. Click the Processes tab. Show all processes as in tutorial.
Then see if it is listed there, Ask or About.
Right click if listed which is Step #3 and click "Open File Location".

I realize it is a long shot but may be listed.
Also you can look at processes with the voice software off then turn it on to see what processes start up.
If there is an odd entry that might be worth checking out.

Everything running should show in processes after clicking "Show Processes From All Users" but if it is hidden within another process???? you may never find it without removing software you need.
Catch-22
For instance if it is embedded in the Adobe voice software you would need a replacement for that unfortunately.

Worth a look if you want. Might be a waste of time but the last thing I can think of for now.
Good luck.
Mike

PS- You may have already tried the above or it was already posted. If so I missed it.

 

[marsmimar]

One other possibility (and my apologies if this was already mentioned.) The free Process Explorer and/or Process Monitor.

Process Explorer

Process Monitor

They both offer the opportunity to run the utilities in your browser without having to install them. They drill down a lot deeper than task manager to find those pesky processes.

 

[Britton30]

Thanks for the reply...
It's like dealing with the U.S. Congress.

You're welcome. A computer is logical though.
I think you have our curiosity now and want to see you through to get rid of this unwanted intrusion.

 

[Hopalong X]

Thanks for the reply...
It's like dealing with the U.S. Congress.

You're welcome. A computer is logical though.
I think you have our curiosity now and want to see you through to get rid of this unwanted intrusion.

Yes now we are annoyed.
Next time it could be one of us looking for it.

My two occurences it was easy to remove. They changed the name to About the second time but I found it.

 

[Britton30]

Apparently they have changed its name again to really obfuscate it.

 

[Hopalong X]

This may help you find it also. May have been tried or posted.

HijackThis - Trend Micro USA
I would use this one not the Beta- Version 2.0.4

Even if you do not use it to remove ASK it may show you where installed or what it is installed with.

I have never used this but know others have used it for pesky malware/software removal/search.

I Googled Ask removal. I found it was suggested on other forums for Ask removal.

 

[Britton30]

Another from Googling, it claims to remover the Ask toolbar in 3 steps. I have not used it though.
Remove Ask Toolbar
don't do this, it's an installer for their paid-for program, SpeedMaxPC.
You can try a search using the words asksearch and aboutsearch.

 

[Hopalong X]

Another from Googling, it claims to remover the Ask toolbar in 3 steps. I have not used it though.
Remove Ask Toolbar
You can try a search using the words asksearch and aboutsearch.

They make it look like a Microsoft web site but it isn't.
© 2010 Speedmaxpc.com All Rights Reserved - Hampden ME.

Not saying it is bad but just a heads up.