Try doing that in Tools --> Addons --> Extensions.

More details: uninstalling add-ons.

i just did it. "ask" wasn't even listed, so still can't remove it

It sounds like there's something shady going on. I've heard of some malicious things related to Ask toolbars before, too, but I can't remember the details.

Try removing your Firefox profile completely. It's just a folder, but it might be a little hard to find.

WARNING: If you do this, you'll lose your bookmarks and all of your settings. Proceed at your own risk.

I think that on Windows the folder location for Firefox settings is someplace like C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla ... That's based on my system. Yours might be in a slightly different location.

If it's really malicious, and it put itself into the Firefox installation directory, you might have to uninstall Firefox, remove the Firefox installation directory, then reinstall Firefox.

Not so fast. Ask toolbar gives full uninstall instructions here -

http://about.ask.com/apn/toolbar/docs/default/faq/en/ie/index.html#na4

Please let us know how you get on. Ask does causes problems but at least they are more open than some I could name.

neither is of help, first response, i don't know where to find any of that the second one, when you click on "uninstall" it tells you to go to "add/remove" programs, but as i'd said in original message, 'ASK' is not found there. this just goes in circles!! why can't firefox have agents and give decent help??!!

I'm sorry but it is not clear from your answer whether you tried this method.

<You can also uninstall the toolbar directly from the toolbar

   Click on the chevron (down arrow) on the Option button on the toolbar
   Select "Uninstall" from the drop down menu
   Click "Yes" when asked "Are you sure you want to uninstall this product"
   Close all open web browsers
   Click "OK" on the popup window

We ask that once you have uninstalled the Ask Toolbar that you reboot your computer to ensure that the uninstall process is complete.>

This forum is pretty good on Firefox but not on border-line malware that lurks on the internet. Most of us would never have seen the Ask toolbar.

I think you really should be going to the Ask website or see if there is a forum.

there is no 'CHEVRON' so can't proceed with the rest

An afterthought. You should do a computer search for Ask and, more particularly you should try about:config. In the URL address bar enter about:config, accept the warning, and enter Ask in the Filter Box. If any entries are obvious references to Ask toolbar, right click on them and click reset; they will be deleted when you restart Firefox. See if that helps.

i am very backward in computer things. i don't know what you're talking about, nor how to do it.