http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2421591,00.asp

they have an article and that stupid ask toolbar that explains in detail how to remove the sucker for good.

@letumio

Thank you for trying but the problem is not trying to remove the ASK Toolbar but one of the problems it left behind. As I said, I know how to probably remove the 'box' by resetting Firefox but this will remove my bookmarks, etc.. Having Chrome remove all my history without me asking I came to Firefox hoping for a more reliable server and do not want the same hassle all over again.

By the way, the link from ASK is out of service as is the Utube video - I wonder why???

hello BaliRob, resetting firefox won't affect your bookmarks, passwords or history: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings

if you wouldn't like to try the route to reset firefox nevertheless, then please go to firefox > help > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of that page and paste them here into a reply on the forum. maybe this might give us a further clue on what is going on...

you also may want tor run a full scan of your system with dedicated adware scanners like the free version of malwarebytes & adwcleaner.

Hi Rob - I'm not sure what links you're referring to that are out of service, but I'm happy to help you figure out what's going on. It sounds like you may have installed BearShare, which is a product by Bandoo Media, and it does bundle our search tools as an optional add-on.

Our search tools don't have a grey shaded box involved, so I'm not sure what that would be. Could you post a screen shot here?

Best, Eric Ask.com

are you sure you completely removed it? just removing it from your browser doesnt remove it completely.

Hi BaliRob, you may have acquired multiple extensions. Please check the Add-ons page again. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable or remove.

Note that some extensions can hide themselves. To disable or remove those, you would need to check the Add-ons page in Firefox's Safe Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Can you find any potential culprits?

@Philipp, Eric, letumio, jscher2000,

Thanking you all for trying to help me. Letumio was partially correct because, although I HAD removed Ask as a browser and there had never been an entry for Ask in Programs (Control Panel) or under START under All Programs, it WAS still present under Manage Search Engines at top right Search box (with magnifying glass).

However, deleting Ask from this box did not solve the problem.

I went back to add-ons and extensions and deleted two Google Translations Services - DO NOT ASK ME WHY - and when I returned to Yahoo Mail Inbox the offending small rectangular panel had gone.

I reselected another Google Translation (I cannot speak Indonesian) which Mozilla downloaded for me. I have lost the Translation boxes in the 5th Toolbar where it asks one to nominate a language into to one's preferred tongue but suppose that any page in a non-English format in the future will be auto translated - we shall have to wait and see.

Thank you all once again.

Is that toolbar is still being displayed?

• Firefox menu button > Options
• View > Toolbars (press F10 to display the menu bar)
• Right-click empty toolbar area

You can check for problems caused by a corrupted localstore.rdf file.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Corrupt_localstore.rdf

@cor-el,

My reply above indicates that I had had no problem removing Ask Toolbar but did suffer the after effects.

Even though I seem to have solved my own problem (see above) I did go to the link you kindly provided (Corrupt_localstore.rdf) and found myself completely unable to understand anything. It would appear that Mozilla is far more difficult to repair than Chrome which makes me wonder whether I should return.

If you remove a toolbar in an incorrect way then it is possible that you are left behind with a corrupted user interface.

How did you remove this toolbar?

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_add-ons
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_toolbars

Can you attach a screenshot?

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenshot
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot.

Hi BaliRob, ideally you would never need to repair any browser. Firefox introduced a "one-click repair" feature in version 13, but since often problems sound simple enough to address in another way and that saves time you might otherwise spending re-customizing. "Simple" is different to everyone, however, and if you prefer the "one-click" solution, you could try that in the future.

Note: by "one-click" I mean before spending half an hour re-customizing and tracking down add-ons.

More information: Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings

@jscher2000,

Thank you for the link to reset Firefox - at last something I can easily understand. I will keep the info by my side from now on.

if you would have read the link i gave in detail, it says that ask toolbar installs under false names and pretenses. so whatever this ask employee prick is telling u is trash lies. just because hes on this help and offering help, doesnt make him legit.

in the end, i am entirely right, and this guy supposedly from ask, is full of horse manure. never trust any spokes person from the problem u are having. they arent doing it to help you. they are doing it for one of 3 reasons. to prevent their company from being sued, to try to keep their trash on your computer, and to spread it.

in the end, im glad i lead you to the place that solved your problem. i constantly lurk these companies and F them over by removing their malware, which it is, regardless what they or the antivirus programs they pay say.

if you have a problem with tool bars, programs, or anything that claims or otherwise says its legit, (legally or not), i can help you. please, get in contact with me here. dont worry about limiting it to firefox, mozilla and i believe in understanding and controlling what you and your computer holds! freedom of information includes what you agree to have on your computer! you own it! so control it!

just something to note, for advanced users, the one click repair that jscher is talking about, will mess with your settings, speaking towards people who use specific about:(insert here) alterations. never use the default commands unless you are sure they dont affect you or that you can easily recreate custom settings (i.e. i reset my "most used" weekly no matter where i go or how often)

p.p.s. the reason mozilla is so complicated, is because it is an independant browser, it neither tries nor lies about logging your activity. chrome is google, and if you read all 5000 pages of googles liability, eulas, and ect....they own your browsing. including passwords and everything you look at. mozilla is the only independant browser you have. look at snowden. consider google in detail. then you will understand why mozilla requires your personal attention to such a drastic degree.

ease of use with corporate and government spies or mozilla. moz firefox is your first and last gate to freedom.

p.p.p.s ffs, google was "hacked" to spy on users and claims they didnt know. news articles galore if u havent heard.

google and youtube(google owned) tied together

google is buying everything they can to track people, they are spying on emails(another news event easily found)

why go mozilla? why stay mozilla? when you read up on google taking over the internet and recording everyone, and being "hacked" by the government, i put quotes because their involvement is still questionable.... why wouldnt you pick the browser, the one browser, that has always been, and will always be, the one free source independent browser?

yes, mozilla is a little more complicated, but people like me, are here free of charge, to ask questions, and there are thousands of me, its called crowd sourcing, which is also free, and used by spaceX, and many many more multimillion dollar corps. why? becuase its FREE. like mozilla!. if you have a problem, email letumio024@gmail.com BEFORE YOU GO GOOGLE. i will fix your problem myself if i can dont go googlecore. go freecore.

please close as this is resolved