How do I remove Ask.com Toolbars or Search Apps from a web browser in Windows?

This can be done by uninstalling the app from the Add/Remove Programs control panel (in Windows XP and Vista) or from the Programs & Features control panel (Windows 7, 8 and 10). The search app will be called either "Ask Toolbar" or "Search App by Ask." If you cannot find an entry in the Add/Remove Programs control panel, then you can try browser-specific instructions below.

Internet Explorer:

You can also find a list of installed add-ons by clicking on “Manage Add-ons” in Internet Explorer's Tools menu:

To change your default homepage or search provider in Internet Explorer, please refer to this article.

Google Chrome:

Chrome users can remove Ask toolbars and search apps quickly by going to Chrome's Tools menu, hovering over "More Tools," and choosing "Extensions" from the sub-menu.

Remove the Ask extension(s). by clicking the trash can icon next to the corresponding extension. In some cases, you may have multiple extensions installed so you may need to remove them separately.

After restarting, you may still see Ask as your default search engine or default home page. If so, please refer to this article to change those settings.

Mozilla Firefox:

Firefox users can remove Ask search apps by going to Firefox's Tools menu, selecting Add-ons, and clicking "Remove" next to the name of the Ask search app in the list of installed extensions, as shown here:

After restarting Firefox, you may still see Ask as your default search provider. If so, please refer to this article.

If the above steps don't work for some reason, users can remove the Ask toolbar or search app by downloading and running this removal utility:

http://apnmedia.ask.com/media/toolbar/utilities/ToolbarRemover.exe

After downloading the utility, please close all open browser windows. Then double-click the utility's icon to run the utility; after it completes, please restart your computer. Restarting the computer is necessary to complete the removal.

Note to Mac OS X users: This article has instructions specific to web browsers in OS X.