The suckology of Ask...

[Boerseun]

So - me running Mozy Firefox. All good, cool and awesome.

 

Then, one day, whenever I'm looking for something totally legit, the tab I'm working in gets redirected to ask.com, giving me search results for what I typed in the address bar, for chrissakes.

 

And not for some dodgy sites that might chuck out DNS issues, but sites that millions of users use each and every day. Common sites like Facebook and Yahoo! turns into Ask search results.

 

It's like this: I go to the address bar on my tab. I type in Yahoo!, or Welcome to Facebook | Facebook, or I even just click on them from the history drop-down after typing in the first character or two, and I whack enter. And then it goes to Ask.com Search Engine - Better Web Search, and what I typed in my address bar is now entered into the search bar on the Ask site, with the totally useless results displayed underneath.

 

I have now tried everything. I have gone to ToolsAdd-ons, and nowhere does it show that I've installed the Ask toolbar. I have gone to Control PanelAdd Remove Programs (I run XP Pro), and nowhere is the Ask toolbar installed, nor does anything even refer Ask. I have type about:config in the Firefox address bar, and changed the "keyword.url" key as recommended by solutions I've found on the 'net. NONE OF IT WORKED.:Alien:

 

There is no reference to Ask.com anywhere in my registry, the only references are in Firefox under about:config. And changing it does absolutely diddley-squat.

 

I liked Firefox. I really did. And I have the latest version, I've set it up to auto-update.

 

Why did Firefox do this? I did not install anything that required the Ask toolbar to be installed. Ask.com is apparently now set to become the fourth biggest search engine, because it either hijacked my browser (motherf*****s) or Mozilla cut a deal with them to include it in their updates, unsolicited (in which case the motherf*****s will be Mozilla). But be that as it may, I want to remove Ask.com from my 'box. Desperately so.

 

Ask is probably the dumbest damn search engine I've ever come across, and turning explicit address bar destinations into searches is not only bloody rude, arrogant and stupid, but returns "search results" that are so out of context its not even funny. Why would it assume that when I type in a perfectly valid address like "www.yahoo.com", I intended a search?

 

Ask used to be Askjeeves.com, and they couldn't hack it then. Now they are set to become 4th on the log by usurping user intentions and hijacking machines in the vilest way possible. I hate these bastards. How do I get it off my box? Or should I just remove Firefox and go google chrome?

 

Even IE is looking attractive now.

 

How can I remove this @#$%^&*()!@#$%^ piece of %^&*($@#%%$ bloody @#$@%%%^&$%&$% crapstick @!#$%%#^%^$^&*@# friggin' #$%@^^%&$%^@#$!@#$%#%^#$%#& useless @#$%$#%^%^&$%^*#$$# from my machine?

 

Anybody else having this with Mozy Firefox?

 

:eek2::evil:;):evil:;)

[Mercedes Benzene]

I have not been having that specific problem Boerseun, but I do have other problems. This new version (3.5 is it?) is the first Firefox incarnation I've had troubles with. I often get a message the says something like "The script on this page has stopped working due to lack of memory."

I searched for that error, and it turns out a lot of people are getting the exact same thing. Someone contacted customer service, and they told him to "create a new profile."

 

I don't know how one goes about creating a new profile on Firefox, but perhaps that may work for your problem!

 

Edit: I just googled "redirect to ask.com" and got a lot of responses. Apparently a lot of people are experiencing the same thing, although it seems to be a problem with a much older version (2.0). You may be able to find a response that helps. :Alien:

[Boerseun]

I'm on 3.0.1.1

 

And there are lots of peeps on the net with the same issue, like you said. I think the idjits cut a deal with Ask to serve them some undeserved traffic.

 

Bastards. :Alien:

[Mercedes Benzene]

I'm on 3.0.1.1

 

And there are lots of peeps on the net with the same issue, like you said. I think the idjits cut a deal with Ask to serve them some undeserved traffic.

 

Bastards. :Alien:

Very lame.

Try upgrading to 3.5 maybe?

[Boerseun]

I have now made my peace with it.

 

Firefox will not see me again.

 

Badaboom badabing, allegiance shifted.

[alexander]

uh, that sounds like a dns issue, not a firefox issue...

 

Try changing your dns (in network connections properties) to opendns servers 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220, then doing ipconfig /flushdns and try again... Its not a firefox issue, also 3.5 is the latest version.

 

But ask did not do a deal with mozilla, ask is not included in the firefox distribution and firefox installer does not install the ask.com toolbar...

 

But your ISP may have done a deal to point all the unresolved dns traffic to the ask search engine, been there seen that. And yes ASK does suck as a search engine... like yahoo and bing

[maddog]

Ask is probably the dumbest damn search engine I've ever come across, and turning explicit address bar destinations into searches is not only bloody rude, arrogant and stupid, but returns "search results" that are so out of context its not even funny. Why would it assume that when I type in a perfectly valid address like "www.yahoo.com", I intended a search? ...

Ask used to be Askjeeves.com, and they couldn't hack it then. Now they are set to become 4th on the log by usurping user intentions and hijacking machines in the vilest way possible. I hate these bastards. How do I get it off my box? Or should I just remove Firefox and go google chrome? ... ;):evil:;):evil::evil:

I just kept the pertinent part of your post.

 

I think you have set (not necessarily by yourself) "ask.com" as your default search engine.

This is quite easy to change. Go up to your search box (to the left is a pull-down) and

enable the pull-down.

The default search engine will be bold. See if it is ask.com. To remove that choice from

the list select the option Manage Search Engines.

 

I don't know that I would jump to IE just yet. Though my wife does seem to like it while

using Vista (?!?!?) :Alien: :eek2: ;)

 

Personally I use Mac at home, WinXP at work. I feel just as horrid at using Vista. Yechh! :P

 

maddog

[Southtown]

^^ What he said. Tho alex has a point. My v3.5 doesn't redirect incomplete urls, and there aren't any browser options that I can tell to set or unset redirection... so default search engine might be irrelevant.

 

PS You didn't go ie did ya?

[alexander]

i think its a dns issue not a browser redirect...

[CraigD]

I’m not a mozilla developer or expert, but will throw out my guess at the cause of your woes, Boerseun.

I have type about:config in the Firefox address bar, and changed the "keyword.url" key as recommended by solutions I've found on the 'net.

I suspect you were on the right track using the about:config “pseudo” protocol:uri to check your keyword.url setting. My guess is some other setting has been altered, maybe by malware, something pretty easy to do under windows and most unixes.

 

An easy way troubleshoot your about:config settings to default is to start firefox in safe mode. If you’ve your original default shortcuts/links, there should be one in your equivalent of Window’s Start>Programs>Firefox>. If not, you should be able to run, from a run box or command line, firefox.exe -safe-mode.

 

If your problem goes away in safe mode, you know that something it ignores is causing it. If you don’t have any unusual setting or plugins you care about, you can start in safe mode again, and check the “make changes permanent” boxes that appear on startup, which should fix your regular mode firefox.

[Boerseun]

Definitely not a DNS issue.

 

Trying IE was just a joke, don't worry. But to confirm, IE doesn't do it, neither does Google Chrome. And they use the same network layer to connect. Thus, not DNS. They connect (both IE and Chrome) happily to each and every site I type the address for. But not Firefox.

 

Ask only featured in the keyword.url string, and upon removal and complete restart, completely reinserted itself.

 

Must be malware of some sort, thus not a conscious decision on Mozilla's part.

 

But I think its despicable on Ask.com's part to resort to inserting malware on consumer's machines in order to increase their market share. And its illegal, to boot. I hope someone sues their socks off.

 

I'm on Google Chrome now.

 

Happiness.

[freeztar]

I'm on Google Chrome now.

 

Happiness.

 

Did you try any of the suggestions for FF?

 

If a deleted entry reinstates itself, that's cause for worry. Using Chrome, or any other browser, will not make the underlying problem go away.

 

Nip it in the bud. It's a pain, but you know the drill.

[Boerseun]

Did you try any of the suggestions for FF?

Every single one. And nothing worked. Must be malware that compares the changed config to the infected one, and then changes it back upon restart.

 

But why would Ask.com benefit out of it unless, of course, they have a finger in the pie somewhere? The net is infested with similar complaints, so it's not just me.

 

I'm happily surfing on Chrome right now, thank you very much. And I haven't had a hiccup since chucking Firefox.

 

Those idiots at Ask are making as bad a cock-up of their marketing as they did with their search algorithm. Go to Ask and check the relevance of search results against the same searches performed in yahoo, google or even bing. It's goddamned pathetic, really. They probably figured their programmers can't program, and moved all of them to the marketing department. Hence this bloody malware.

[alexander]

boerseun, have you tried to just delete FF all the way, remove all config, all registry entries, reboot and try a fresh install (of 3.5)?

[CraigD]

Did you try any of the suggestions for FF?

Every single one. And nothing worked.

I’m curious – did you still get the behavior, even starting FF in safe mode?

[Southtown]

My wife likes ask. I think it's because she can only search with complete sentences. I have IE set up for her with ask as default engine and netflix as home page. lol (Should probably use chrome for that, tho.)

[maddog]

Boersun,

 

I have Chrome set up as well. Just in case. Though odd about Ask. I don't even have that

as one of my Search Engines. My default is Google (of course!). Happy Chroming, though

Alex's suggestion of rerolling out FF (especially 3.5) might be worth doing. Be sure to

fully delete the folders (Note: Location different on PC vs Mac)

 

PC:

documents and setting<profile>Application DataMozilla

documents and setting<profile>Local SettingApplication DataMozilla

 

Mac:

/Library/Application Data/Mozilla/

 

Good Luck. :thumbs_up

 

maddog