I can't uninstall the Ask Toolbar updater despite having admin access?

Question

I'm going through my installed programs clearing out stuff I don't use and came across an "Ask Toolbar Updater". Now I don't recalling ever installing the Ask Toolbar so I want to get rid of this. However clicking "uninstall" gives:

You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Ask Toolbar Updater. Please contact your system administrator.

Despite me being an admin account.

How do I force the uninstall?

NOTE: I don't have the Ask toolbar installed on any browser (IE, Firefox or Chrome) so if I (or one my kids) did ever install it by mistake the toolbar itself has been removed.

I did a search and found this closed thread on the PC Help forums which describes my problem exactly.

Two solutions are presented:

1. Use the Revo Uninstaller - http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html
2. Use something called Adware Cleaner - http://general-changelog-team.fr/fr/downloads/finish/20-outils-de-xplode/2-adwcleaner (WARNING - this is the actual download link).

Are these any good?

NOTE 2: This problem probably isn't unique to the Ask Toolbar.

Solution

I looked in the registry for "ask toolbar" and found the uninstaller entry at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall{79A765E1-C399-405B-85AF-466F52E918B0}

This has a "DisplayIcon" entry that points to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Ask.com\favicon.ico

However, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Ask.com\" doesn't exist.

I think that the uninstaller entry was left over from when I actually uninstalled the toolbar but that the uninstaller left this behind. Therefore just deleting this registry entry is all that I need to do.

This would imply that the error message is misleading. The uninstall process is trying to run the uninstall command which is returning a "file not found" error, but the the program is interpreting that as "you don't have permission to run the file" - hence the particular error message.

This solution would be a general one for all cases where there is an entry in the programs list but where there's no trace of the program on the computer's hard drive any more.

Comments

[ChrisF]

My reluctance to to install something just to uninstall something else is what prompted the question.

[Simon]

@ChrisF I have used ADwCleaner on several occasions and it is successful at removing: toolbars, add-ons etc that others have not. Its official website is bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner