The Ask Toolbar is causing that in the Firefox 3.6.13+ versions. Disable that extension or un-install it.

When I saw the response, I thought I do not have the Ask task bar, but I did have the Foxit Reader task bar (which appears to be linked the Ask some how), so uninstalled that, and all is working now.

how do i know where the ask toolbar is?? to where i can disable or uninstall it

If you have the Ask Toolbar installed, refer to Problematic extensions - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

I can not find the ask toolbar. Went to control panel etc. Not there unless it is called something else and not in the alphabetical list.

Thanks in advance for reply.

Reg Gupton

If you disabled the toolbar, you can still accidentally enable the add-ons. Go to "tools" "add-ons" and click on Ask.com to remove.

if you have a bar directly under the address bar that includes the words 'ask.com' right click to remove. pretty much anything you see with ask.com, try to remove it.