Why is Google Chrome installing ASK.COM as a search engine?

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This one really baffles me. We all know (or should) that ASK is a huge purveyor of junkware and spyware. It is affiliated with many fakeout search engines. It was at one time, many years ago, one of the first search engines (remember Ask Jeeves?)

But now it seems to be a conduit for the worst Internet junk, and a broker for every scammer out there.

So why is Google, which I still consider to be the best search engine company, including ask.com as one of their default search engines? Why should Google need ANY other search engine? Would Amazon advertise eBay?

Only one reason comes to mind: ask is paying them a LOT of money. And since ask is a very, very bad company, infringing on all our rights to surf safely, that means Google is complicit in what I personally consider to be criminal activity.

Just one more way in which Google is trying to do the Pinky and The Brain thing: take over the world. In any way possible.

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They are all at it these days which is why you need to be vigilant when downloading anything so as to look for the PuP check boxes and those misleading big green download buttons.

I came across something yesterday where it had a small EULA box checked informing that the download included an uninstaller – no way out of that one except to look elsewhere.

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Why is Google Chrome installing ASK.COM as a search engine?

Personally I haven’t seen anything relating to ask.com in relation to Google Chrome. Java updates almost always has it before java will install ( just uncheck the box ) but I have never seen it related to Chrome.
Are you sure that you didn’t inadvertently let ask .com install with some other program?
Where did you see this?

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I agree with Lumpy. It was most likely Java or possibly Flash but not Chrome. Chrome is from Google, there’s no way they would be using Ask.

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lumpy and gsmith: Come on, you guys. I may be new to this board, but a little credit please. Go ahead, look in your Chrome search engine lists. If ask.com is not there, it’s because it got deleted.

Ultimate proof: uninstall Chrome, get rid of its folder under AppData/Local, and install it as a pristine application. Voila: ask.com is in there.

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Ultimate proof: uninstall Chrome, get rid of its folder under AppData/Local, and install it as a pristine application. Voila: ask.com is in there.

Yes, it’s there. But there’s no way Chrome would be pushing it out. That would be like Coke putting Pepsi in it’s packages.

There are a number of programs that will push Ask into your browser and some, once installed, will keep pushing it back in if you try and remove it. They can be very persistent.

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This has been an ongoing complaint with Chrome for a long time.

Just do a search on the Chrome forum and you’ll see tons of complaints about Ask…

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/chrome

Nothing there seems to say it comes with Chrome though.

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Actually, there is no pre-selected option in any Chrome installation that I’ve ever seen. Ask.com is simply installed as part of the overall package.

That is not to say it only comes with Chrome… oh, no, it is a much bigger and hideous problem than that. It comes from ALL over, and is definitely part of a whole slew of “freeware” stuff during their install processes.

And I’ve only really noticed it this past year with Chrome; I don’t believe it was in there before. Again, I suggest anyone seriously looking for proof of this, do a clean install of Chrome as I describe in a previous post… then look at the search engines.

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I’m sure that happens a lot. In any case, Chrome all by itself includes the web address for the ask search engine.

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Perhaps they bought it out.

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Okay, go one step further then. Re-install Windows from scratch. Go nowhere on the ‘Net, but install Chrome. It’s there. I’ve done this many times for customers, then gone in and deleted the ask link. So tell me, where is it coming from if not from Google?

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Okay, go one step further then. Re-install Windows from scratch. Go nowhere on the ‘Net, but install Chrome. It’s there. I’ve done this many times for customers, then gone in and deleted the ask link. So tell me, where is it coming from if not from Google?

Are you saying that you can install Chrome on a clean machine and it will have ASK as the DEFAULT search engine?

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I have given up with Google, costs me downtime with so many re-directions I care not much for.

Try
https://duckduckgo.com/

about
https://duckduckgo.com/about
https://duckduckgo.com/about

They may not be a google, but I get what I’m looking for.

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Maybe as a defense against anti trust suits. :cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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No, NOT as the default. As one of the search engines in the available list. Man, if it was the default, I’d be at headquarters with a lynch mob.

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No, NOT as the default. As one of the search engines in the available list.

That’s different. The topic is “Why is Google Chrome installing ASK.COM as a search engine?” Some of us took that to mean actually INSTALLING it and the ASK toolbar, rather than just offering it as a choice.

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lumpy and gsmith: Come on, you guys. I may be new to this board, but a little credit please. Go ahead, look in your Chrome search engine lists. If ask.com is not there, it’s because it got deleted.

I stand corrected, it is in there although it is grayed out and not selected as default. I deleted both ask.com entry’s after the screenshot.
42665-search-

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I don’t know why the need Bing and AOL in there, either, unless perhaps Google lost some court case in Europe… lol, as wavy has suggested.

The greyed-out items in the list simply mean they are not the default selection.

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I don’t know why the need Bing and AOL in there, either, unless perhaps Google lost some court case in Europe… lol, as wavy has suggested.

The greyed-out items in the list simply mean they are not the default selection.

Wavy is correct; plenty of stuff on it here.

To me, the answer is simple: if you don’t want to use ASK, then don’t. The choice is yours. It’s a darn sight better than being forced to use one search engine over another.

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Wavy is correct; plenty of stuff on it here.

To me, the answer is simple: if you don’t want to use ASK, then don’t. The choice is yours. It’s a darn sight better than being forced to use one search engine over another.

Happens to everybody once in a while :^_^:

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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No, Tonyl, I disagree. That’s not the answer. The question is WHY is it there in the first place? How and why would Google knowingly include a notorious spyware search engine in their basic install?

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I just had a cursory look at ASK and Ghostery reports 10 trackers. That’s the same as Google.

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Actually, after thinking about the settings>search options, it makes no difference what is in the choices as long as you have selected a default. You can add a different default search engine if you like by typing in the url at the bottom.
Ask.com isn’t really “Installed” as your thread title alludes to but is a choice if you want it ( which I don’t and have subsequently deleted it from the list even though that wasn’t really necessary ).

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Well, none of the search engines are “installed” as a program, but don’t you think we’re being a little nit-picky here. Please keep in mind I did not say that they are forcing it on you as an engine, or as a default.

I’d prefer to focus on the question of why it’s in there at all, as an option? Why would a large corporation include a link to a known spyware outlet? What purpose could it possibly achieve?

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That’s just scary.

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uBlock Origin reported 6 blocks on Ask.com…and 12 on Windows Secrets Lounge (numbers in upper right corner of screenshots).

Confirmed; I get those results with uBlock Origin too. Just shows you, it’s pretty much everywhere you go, so I don’t think ASK is any different.

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Can I ask a question here? Using Firefox I can do a search choosing from a number of search engines, including Bing and Duckduckgo but not Ask. In Chrome I can choose a default search engine and the list includes Bing and Ask Jeeves. So does using the ask search engine put anything on your PC?

I know that you can get an Ask toolbar, normally by not noticing it ticked on some s/w download, and this ain’t great.

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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Can I ask a question here? Using Firefox I can do a search choosing from a number of search engines, including Bing and Duckduckgo but not Ask.[/quote]

You can get it here[/U].

In Chrome I can choose a default search engine and the list includes Bing and Ask Jeeves. So does using the ask search engine put anything on your PC?

Cookies, if you let it.

I know that you can get an Ask toolbar, normally by not noticing it ticked on some s/w download, and this ain’t great.

‘Twas ever thus. I know people get the hump over this, but I don’t have much against it – software authors have to get their stuff out there somehow. And people should read stuff before clicking.

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Thanks Tony, though I wasn’t asking where to get it as the OP was talking about the default. So it would appear that Google aren’t doing anything bad in listing Ask as a search engine. As long as you don’t download the toolbar. But have Ask cleaned up their act? That’s not a rhetorical question

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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I’ve used it occasionally, if I haven’t found what I want anywhere else. I’m not a big fan, as I just don’t think it’s that good a search engine. But I’ve never come to any harm…

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So it would appear that Google aren’t doing anything bad in listing Ask as a search engine

True, in chrome it’s not an installation or a pre-checked default, it’s a choice.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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So it would appear that Google aren’t doing anything bad in listing Ask as a search engine
True, in chrome it’s not an installation or a pre-checked default, it’s a choice.

They sure are doing something bad: just having this junkware company in their list is the bad and stupid thing. Certainly there are corporate decisions made as to which engines to include arbitrarily in any browser. Internet Explorer/Edge only uses Bing, for obvious reasons. Firefox includes DuckDuckGo based on some logic in those meetings, as does Google. So why include an almost-criminal enterprise in that list? There is a reason, and I’m only guessing when I say “cash money”.

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They sure are doing something bad: just having this junkware company in their list is the bad and stupid thing.

While I would agree that including ASK as a choice would not be my preference, I don’t think it rises to the level of an “almost-criminal enterprise”. It’s only their search engine after all.

I have a far bigger bug up my… nose about Java including the ASK Search bar which is about as close as anything comes to being invasive malware as anything can be (or it used to be anyway). Then again, the Google, Yahoo, and Bing Search bars can be almost as annoying the way they sometimes just show up in a browser.

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While I would agree that including ASK as a choice would not be my preference, I don’t think it rises to the level of an “almost-criminal enterprise”. It’s only their search engine after all.

I have a far bigger bug up my… nose about Java including the ASK Search bar which is about as close as anything comes to being invasive malware as anything can be (or it used to be anyway). Then again, the Google, Yahoo, and Bing Search bars can be almost as annoying the way they sometimes just show up in a browser.

I can understand your reticence about my use of the word criminal. But let me add that I see between three and six computers, five days a week, and extras on Saturday. That’s a lot of computers, and when every installation of Chrome includes the potential for badness because of this ask.com, to me, that’s criminal. More so because the majority of Chrome users that I know (keeping in mind I live in an area that is hugely populated with retirees) did not ask for Chrome in any way that they are aware of: they got it because at the top of their browser for months and months was a yellow bar that said “Your browser is/will be out of date. Click here to upgrade.” And they did and suddenly Chrome was now their default browser. To me, that’s criminal as well. That bar did NOT say “click here to get Chrome”. No, sir.

And for a company like Oracle/Sun, who own Java, to include ask as part of their download… knowing that over the years millions and millions of users have simply clicked “Accept” when installing Java updates… is also criminal.

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To answer your question, access-mdb: simply having the ask.com link in your search engine list does not put anything bad on your PC. But the only difference between using ask.com for searching, and installing the ask toolbar itself, is that the ask toolbar will get one into trouble that much quicker.

ask.com is well-known to be affiliated with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of freeware and spyware outfits, and it works like this (I believe Windows Secrets did a story once on this): online companies with wares to sell began long ago to hire advertising “brokers” to help them get their stuff distributed. They pay these people based on their returns. Many of them, including otherwise reputable firms, do not ask how exactly their revenue is increasing, something the government likes to call “plausible deniability”, as you’ve heard on TV.

So the brokerages make deals with all kinds of shady outfits to get their junkware (and even decent software) included as part of the installation package when you download something. (The only difference between them and, say, Adobe is that Adobe lets you know right up front every time you upgrade Flash that there is a box for you to uncheck (always preselected) with Chrome or AVG or some similar tool), while as you know from installing downloads, these items employ lots of tricks to get you to skip the uncheck part. This is called “opting out”, and several years back in Canada the feds came down hard on a cable company for using this technique (you got channels and paid extra by default: you had to know about opting out of those options, which many didn’t and ended up paying a huge chunk of change before catching on).

So right off the bat we have two unsavoury situations: one, a company that doesn’t care what’s in your download, as long as they get paid; two, trying to hide these extra installations.

Now, if you do use ask.com, their searches are populated with answers that bring advertisers and click-through deals to the top of the list. And many of these are the same type of junkware links. And every time you click on their preferred links, someone somewhere is getting paid a penny or two. So it is to their advantage to push those choices at you. The brokers use these links to get more money for themselves and the companies they represent, and it just gets bigger and bigger, because now they can show these “returns” to other companies as a way to prove how effective they are at generating revenue. Using the ask toolbar just gets you there that much faster.

My suspicion is also this: when you click through these linked and brokered sites, that’s where you’re going to get a lot more of these drive-by spyware downloads.

There are also, most definitely, the benign type of drive-by downloads, wherein the host page doesn’t even know it’s been compromised. Perhaps only a tiny pixel on the display has code attached to it. My own websites have no protection beyond the SPs that provide the space. I certainly can’t afford high-end protection on top of that (the saving grace being people rarely go to my sites, so there is no real interest in hacking me). So users get attacked and never know how, contrary to statements that suggest a lot of these people are clicking cluelessly.

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While I don’t use Chrome, I use Adblock Plus in IE11 which keeps a lot of stuff out and there’s µBlock for Chrome and Firefox which is lighter.

A useful program for cleaning up browsers is Avast Browser Cleanup Tool which will get rid of toolbars etc. and it found something embedded that the free version of MBAM had missed for me.

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Does it remove extensions by default?

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Does it remove extensions by default?

If this is aimed at the Avast tool, I think it does but cannot remember, but if you want to manually check what you have before deciding whether to remove them or not, IObit Uninstaller has a facility for doing that – but keep an eye out for any bundled check boxes during the installation as they keep changing them.

http://www.iobit.com/en/advanceduninstaller.php

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Sudo Just wondering so I might know what to expect.

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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just install custome and deselect irrelevanc

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@beachboybogart
All too often it even depends on where you download the Google Chrome web browser from; that is what we are talking about, correct?

Most download portals now put wrappers around their downloads. These wrappers ask a totally inconspicuous question like
[INDENT]Default install (recommended)
Custom install (for experienced users only)[/INDENT]
that 98% of people answer by clicking on Default.

And THAT is the mistake; had they clicked on Custom they might have gotten one or several windows asking directly and/or indirectly for permission to install whatever other junk came with your specific download.

Trial and error!

I am with those here that say it does NOT come from Google, the corporation. These shenanigans are why I always preach to download form the originating or author’s web site ONLY!

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Yes, but they are all at it – Adobe Flash Player – you could end up with Chrome or McAfee installed when you wanted neither – and ImgBurn – I go to FileHippo for that.

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– and ImgBurn – I go to FileHippo for that.

Even FileHippo can’t keep OpenCandy out of ImgBurn, tried downloading a few minutes ago.
42842-ImgBurn_OpenCandy

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Most download portals now put wrappers around their downloads. These wrappers ask a totally inconspicuous question like
[INDENT]Default install (recommended)
Custom install (for experienced users only)[/INDENT]
that 98% of people answer by clicking on Default.

And THAT is the mistake; had they clicked on Custom they might have gotten one or several windows asking directly and/or indirectly for permission to install whatever other junk came with your specific download.

Yes, that’s one trick I’ve become wise to; there’s usually a clue in the first couple of lines in the EULA. As I said earlier, “Read before you click”. If the EULA mentions something like Open Candy, I’m on my guard.

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@beachboybogart
All too often it even depends on where you download the Google Chrome web browser from; that is what we are talking about, correct?

Yes,and I do understand that. As a tech, I am forever installing software for testing and for customers. Anyone who is not aware of this, in my position, doesn’t deserve to be in my position.

No, these are direct-from-Google downloads. )I prefer to use their offline installer to save time and frustration, as in this area there are lots of places with very poor download speeds.) In any case, as others have pointed out, it is not a installation, per se… but it is included as a Search Engine. Every single time.

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It must be embedded now then instead of just bundled.

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Well gents, having updated FF this morning and it disabling everything useful (cant even login to gmail!!) I downloaded chrome and installed it,sure enough the ask search engine is there? I did not have chrome before. Thanks gws.

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Well gents, having updated FF this morning and it disabling everything useful (cant even login to gmail!!) I downloaded chrome and installed it,sure enough the ask search engine is there? I did not have chrome before. Thanks gws.

One cure – use IE

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Well gents, having updated FF this morning and it disabling everything useful (cant even login to gmail!!) I downloaded chrome and installed it,sure enough the ask search engine is there? I did not have chrome before. Thanks gws.

But I don’t understand, on my copy of Chrome it’s just a link to the Ask search page. If you don’t use that as your default search page there’s no problem.

And I don’t have any problems logging in to Gmail or anything else; are you sure it’s not something you’ve done?

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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It must be doing something because I’ve seen someone else on another forum who has reported it disabling aspects of their Kaspersky Security program and have reverted to v42.0.

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Another thing to note not everybody d/l s directly from google, maybe some tag alongs…..
:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I have yet to see any evidence of malware infection directly linked to Ask.com.

Some variants of the Ask toolbar took over so many aspects of the browser and was so difficult for the average user to remove that many considered it to be malware.

The current optional Ask search engine as distributed by Google Chrome is simple to disable or remove. Even the default Google search can be overridden and then removed but that might require a few more steps if it’s the only search engine left (eg. visit duckduckgo, click the make DDG default button at the bottom, check that DDG is default in Chrome settings, remove Google).

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I have been using unchecky for a while now. It is a little freeware program that automatically unchecks the boxes for unwanted add-ons when installing programs. Here is a link to the program. There is a video on the site that shows how it works. http://unchecky.com/

A link to a you tube review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5tWatTcO-M

It doesn’t catch everything, but it works well for most of the major download sites. It is not perfect but every little bit of defense helps. I am pretty vigilant and don’t install much freeware, but this little program is one of those it can’t hurt to have it running.

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