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Ask Toolbar Now Considered Malware By Microsoft

Posted by timothy on from the stating-the-obvious dept.

AmiMoJo writes: Last month Microsoft changed its policy on protecting search settings to include any software that attempts to hijack searches as malware. As a result, this month the Ask Toolbar, which most people will probably recognize as being unwanted crapware bundled with Java, was marked as malware and will now be removed by Microsoft's security software built in to Windows 7 and above.

5 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Flashback time by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Insightful
    When people called me, having trouble with their browsers, and there were about 15 or more toolbars taking up their entire screen. And ask was always there, sometime multiple times.

    Anything that installs a toolbar in your browser is malware.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Flashback time by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Are you serious? How can you survive in today's World Wide Web environment without a tailored toolbar experience that sends all your input and browsing data to its publisher? Ask and you shall receive.

      Funny, I thought that was Google's business model.

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  2. It's hard to imagine, but by bluegutang · · Score: 5, Insightful

    at this pace, within a couple years I'll like Microsoft more than I like Mozilla.

  3. Good by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good. It is malware. I can't think of a browser toolbar that I wouldn't consider to be malware to some degree. Has anyone in the past 5 years intentionally installed one of those things? My impression is that they only ever get installed because someone wasn't paying enough attention when they installed some crappy piece of software, and it was bundled in.

  4. Re:Office upload center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The main issue *I* have with it, is that when I disable it - You know... I like to disable stuff I don't use - it refuses to stay disabled.

    There are schedules, and protection tasks, and all sorts of other asshatery that will keep that process running. That's what you would normally call malware - something that refuses to stay disabled or removed.