About

Ask Toolbar for Firefox FAQ

Overview


  1. What is the Ask Toolbar?
  2. Will the Ask Toolbar work with my Web browser?
  3. How do I uninstall the Ask Toolbar?
  4. What are the system requirements for installing the Ask Toolbar?
  5. Does the Ask Toolbar track where I go on the Internet?
  6. Is the Ask Toolbar spyware?

Toolbar Features


See also the Toolbar feature overview for a quick description of the buttons.

  1. How do I add/remove buttons?
  2. What is MyStuff?
  3. What are the news headlines that show in the news button?
  4. What is "Resize"?
  5. What is the "Sign In" button?

Navigating and Customizing


  1. Can I hide the Ask Toolbar on my browser?
  2. How do I customize the Ask Toolbar?
  3. How do I add or modify buttons on the Ask Toolbar?

Troubleshooting


  1. My Toolbar is missing! How can I bring it back?
  2. SeaMonkey, Netscape and other Gecko browsers
  3. How do I report a problem?

Overview

What is the Ask Toolbar?


The Ask Toolbar is a tremendously powerful and totally customizable toolbar that installs directly onto your Web browser. Its design allows you to:
  • Search the Web with Ask.com directly from your browser
  • Save pages and searchs, and access them from anywhere
  • Get Direct Answers to many popular searches like dictionary lookups and stock quotes.

The Ask Toolbar is free to download and free to use.

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Will the Ask Toolbar work with my Web browser?


The Ask Toolbar will work with Firefox versions 1.5 and above. There is also a version of the toolbar for Internet Explorer, available here.

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How do I uninstall the Ask Toolbar?


You can easily uninstall the Ask Toolbar using the instructions below:

       Firefox 1.5

  1. From the "Tools" menu choose "Extensions".
  2. A list with all your installed Firefox extensions will pop up. Find "Ask Toolbar", click on it.
  3. In the bottom left corner of the list window click "Uninstall".
  4. Restart Firefox.

       Firefox 2.0

  1. From the "Tools" menu choose "Add-ons".
  2. A list with all your installed Firefox extensions will pop up. Find "Ask Toolbar", click on it.
  3. Three buttons will appear underneath the "Ask Toolbar" listing. Click "Uninstall".
  4. Restart Firefox.

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What are the system requirements for installing the Ask Toolbar?


To ensure the best experience with Firefox and our toolbar, we recommend the following minimum specifications.

Windows 2000 and above

* 500 Mhz processor
* 256 MB of RAM
* 100 MB of free disk space

Mac OS X 10.2 and above

* PowerPC G4 or Intel processor
* 512 MB of RAM
* 150 MB of free disk space

Linux

* a modern Linux distribution
* 500 Mhz processor
* 256 MB of RAM
* 100 MB of free disk space

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Does the Ask Toolbar track where I go on the Internet?


No, the Ask Toolbar does not monitor or report information about where you are traveling or what you do on Web sites.

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Is the Ask Toolbar "spyware"?


NO! The Ask Toolbar does not collect any personal information and is completely "spyware"-free and "adware"-free. Period. The Ask Toolbar was specifically designed to provide a great user experience free of spyware, adware, direct marketing, data collection or other similar activities. In order to achieve that goal:

  • The toolbar software DOES NOT collect personal information of any kind, period. No email address, registration or other information is required to use the product. No zip code, no email, no member name, no password. Unlike many other products, we do not even attempt to collect data upon startup as a requirement of use.
  • The toolbar software DOES NOT monitor the websites visited by the end user, collect or in any manner report any information about what sites an end users visits (or any clickstream activity), nor does it monitor or scrape information when you are on other sites.
  • The toolbar software DOES NOT serve or facilitate so-called "contextual advertising" or pop-up ads. Many applications are identified as spyware because they monitor end-user Internet usage and serve contextual pop-ups. The Ask Toolbar does not engage in any such practices.

In short, the Ask Toolbar provides a superior search experience on an ANONYMOUS basis and without any additional monitoring, contextual ads or other nuisances.

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Toolbar Features

How do I add/remove buttons?


To add or remove buttons click on the Ask.com logo and select "Add/Edit Options" from the Toolbar Menu. This will open a secondary drop-down list with all the available Toolbar buttons. You can turn the buttons "on" or "off" by clicking on the item in the menu. A check mark to the left of the icons indicates which items are turned "on."

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What is MyStuff?


MyStuff screenshot MyStuff is a powerful tool to upload, organize and share images and web pages. Select the "MyStuff" menu and click "Save" to save the page you are viewing in MyStuff. You can also right click to save any link or image you see. For even more convenience, add one-click buttons to the toolbar. With MyStuff, you can add notes to your saved links or images, publish them to the web or share them with your friends and family. MyStuff is also a great way to back up your bookmarks or favorites. If you don't have a MyStuff account yet, signing up is free and only takes one minute.

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What are the news headlines that show in the news button?


Each time you click on the arrow of the news button, the Ask Toolbar will fetch the latest top stories and display them inside the menu. Click any headline to read the full story.

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What is "Resize"?


The "Resize" button allows you to enlarge or shrink a page you are viewing. All text and images can be magnified to 125%, 150%, 175% and 200%, or reduced to 75% and 50%. Note that some content like embedded video and dynamic objects cannot be resized.

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What is the "Sign In" button?


Click Sign In to access your Ask.com personalized tools and services, like setting up your default locations, search preferences and using your very own storage space on MyStuff for your photos and saved results. Once you are "signed in".

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Navigating and Customizing

Can I hide the Ask Toolbar from my browser?


For Firefox 1.5 or above, you can hide the Ask Toolbar by doing the following:

  1. Go to the "View" menu at the top of your browser.
  2. Select "Toolbars"
  3. Click "Ask Toolbar" to hide; click again to unhide.

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How do I customize the Ask Toolbar?


To customize the Ask Toolbar, click on the "Ask.com" button to the far left of the toolbar. The drop-down menu that appears includes the following customization option:

  • Add/Edit Buttons: This option allows you to select the buttons that would like to appear on your Ask Toolbar.
  • Search Settings: This option takes you to the general setting tabs to customize the search experience on ask.com.
  • Show Button Text: This option asslows you to display or hide the button texts.
  • Clear History: This option allows you to remove all prior search terms from your Ask Toolbar's history or "memory" (the pull-down of past search terms that appears when you begin typing a search that you've entered previously).
  • Help: This option takes you to the Ask.com help directory.
  • About: This option lets you know the current version of your toolbar.

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How do I add or modify buttons on the Ask Toolbar?


Click the "Ask.com" button to the far left of your toolbar and select "Add/Remove Options". This will take you to the "Ask Toolbar Options" dialog, where you can select which buttons you wish to have displayed on your Ask Toolbar.

Once you have selected the buttons that you would like to display on your Ask Toolbar, click either "OK" to save your changes, or select the "Reset to default" buttons to bring the buttons back to the default setting.

Note: If you add more buttons than will fit across the Ask Toolbar at one time, you can find the remaining buttons under the ">>" button on the far right of the Ask Toolbar. Clicking on this button will show you a list of the remaining buttons that will not fit within the Ask Toolbar.

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Troubleshooting

My Toolbar is missing! How can I bring it back?


If you're unable to see the Toolbar in your Firefox browser, first make sure that the Toolbar was installed properly. Select "Tools" > "Add-ons" (or "Extensions") in your Firefox browser. You should see "Ask Toolbar" listed? If not, go to www.ask.com and click "Toolbar". If the Toolbar is listed as an installed program in your Firefox Add-ons or Extensions menu, please close all windows and reopen them.

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SeaMonkey, Netscape and other Gecko browsers


The current version of the Ask Toolbar has not been certified for SeaMonkey, the former Mozilla suite, Camino, Netscape or other Gecko based browsers. Please check toolbar.ask.com again for updates to support additional browsers.

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How do I report a problem?


To report a problem with your Toolbar, please send us an email detailing the problem. Be sure to include your Operating system (e.g., Windows XP) and browser version (e.g., Internet Explorer 6) to help us better serve you.

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