Ask.com

Ask.com is an Internet portal that originally functioned as a search engine, but now only generates responses from a rigid question-answer reservoir. Ask.com was founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California, and was initially (until February 2006) Ask Jeeves. This should point to the idea of the company to get the results by entering questions in complete sentences. The search results from Ask based on the algorithmic search technology Teoma, which was developed at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Douglas Leeds was appointed CEO of Ask.com in 2010. Under his leadership, the site returned to its original shape as a question - and-answer service (Q & A) and gave their technology to the standard internet search. Criticism drew Ask.com its offensive way up, without explicit consent of the user - and in many places unlawful manner - a search bar in the header of the web browser to install in the form of the Ask Toolbar that only be removed with special effort again leaves.

Dissemination

Ask.com belonged to Barry Diller InterActiveCorp (IAC ) and in the U.S. is the fourth- largest search engine after Google, Yahoo and Bing. Ask.com has, according to the website Alexa.com currently holds rank 47 of the world's most visited sites (as of September 2012). In the U.S., Ask.com is ranked 22 Since January 25th, 2006 under Ask.de also a German ( beta ) version of the search engine available. According to a report by market research firm Nielsen Netratings Ask.de was in the first quarter of 2009 in Germany the second most used search engine. There are also beta versions for the UK, Italy, Spain, Japan and the Netherlands.

Ask plug-ins

Since the end of 2007, Internet Explorer essay was offered that provides an anonymous search engine and does not store any data on the search behavior of the user. 2008 took over the IAC Lexico Publishing Group LLC with their websites Dictionary.com ( Dictionary ), Thesaurus.com ( Roget's Thesaurus of English new Millennium Works and Phrases ) and Reference.com ( lexicon ) and the free software Clever keys to browse the pages.

Also on offer is the Ask Toolbar, a browser extension that allows a web search from any website and can be personalized Search store.

Since late 2010, there is also a Q & A App for iPhones from Ask.com.

Criticism

Criticism consists in the Ask Toolbar. This browser extension adds so deeply into the system that a normal uninstall is not always possible. Therefore, computer users with little experience were forced to reinstall their operating system. Other ways of removing exist through programs that are specialized to remove toolbars, as well as through a system restore.

The Ask.com Toolbar is part of the standard of many freeware programs, program installer of certain software vendors and sometimes even fee-based programs such as Nero or AntiVir. In the 2012 - freeware version of Avira AntiVir the Ask toolbar is also installed under the name Avira Search Free Toolbar when the browser protection function is to be installed (earlier versions known as Webguard ); that can be avoided only by repeated rejection. Some bring this aggressive advertising method in the vicinity of the malware, so the malware. Strictly speaking, this is because the Ask Toolbar usually installed in conjunction with a primary desired by the user software to crapware, also called Craplet.