In my opinion, the Ask Toolbar is one of the most annoying pieces of junkware ever hoisted upon the public. It is almost always installed unintentionally as a stealth add-on when you install other programs, and once installed, getting rid of it often requires the patience of Job.
Although it comes bundled with the installation routines of countless programs that are downloaded from the web, the biggest culprit of all is the Java installer.
In this post I explained why I believe Java should be permanently removed from every computer, and the fact that it sneaks the Ask Toolbar onto your computer along with every update is just another reason to do so.
That being said, many people still visit websites that require Java in order to work correctly, and for those folks removing it from their systems just isn’t practical. That’s why I decided to write this short tutorial explaining how to install or update Java without installing the Ask Toolbar along with it.
Follow these steps to install or update Java while avoiding the Ask Toolbar:
1 – Visit www.java.com and click on the Free Java Download button.
2 – Click on the Agree and Start Free Download button.
3 – Run the installer. After the “Welcome to Java” screen appears, click the Install button.
4 – On the “Java Setup” screen, uncheck ALL THREE BOXES related to the installation of the Ask Toolbar.
5 – Click the Next button, then follow the prompts to install the latest version of Java onto your computer.