Hi, please help me. I have re loaded google to be my home page, and settings state it is. However every time I open a new tab in firefox and try a search it continues to use ask.com, which I really do not like. I don't know why it stopped working. Also advised of comparability issues with chrome
The home page and the default search engine are actually different things with their own set-up
First thing I would do in your case is right click on the Start button and select Programs and Features - use the uninstall options to remove anything like Ask Toolbar or ask search - this may reset your search provider back to Google.
If not, in firefox click on the hamburger icon (three lines at top right ), and select options - then search
You should now be able to select google as your default search and also manage whatever other searches you have access to on your system
Ask is well known for sponsoring small software companies and many download sites - this support comes at a price in that the Ask software is added to the installer and is installed and activated without your knowledge, when downloading small programs and apps, always try to use the developers own site as these are less likely to contain the free unwanted items - also always select the advanced install in preference to the express option as this is likely to give you an option to deselect any items you do not need.
Hi, Thanks I didn't know about the right click on start thing. LOL. There are no ask type programs and the hamburger is set to google. still get ask
When you go into the settings then the search sub menu, can you see that the options are set like this ...
Don't worry about the lower settings which apply to alternate search engines that populate the drop down list on the search bar
Ask.com may have installed a toolbar, check in your addons for it, remove it.
Right Click Start Button > Choose Control Panel > Change Category View to Large Icons > Programs & Features
Open up, see if you see Ask.com toolbar, uninstall.
If you don't like that firefox now opens all those tab windows when you open a new tab (like Google Chrome does) check out this extension for Firefox called 'New Tab Homepage'
New Tab Homepage :: Add-ons for Firefox
So say you change your default home page to google.com, or yahoo.com, or whatever.com everytime you open up a new tab you won't need to see those annoying Windows or a blank page. Always an option too. I use this add-on myself.
Yes they do
And I unchecked the box you told me too. Should I restart the lap top?
A re-boot is always a useful thing when making any change to software - especially with things like ask which insert themselves in the startup
If you still get Ask after the reboot right click on the taskbar and start the Task Manager - check the Start-up Tab and disable anything that is Ask related
Nope, nothing in start up and still defaulting to ask: