I had an experience recently I am quite displeased about. I started to get pop-ups and pop-unders pointing to ads.free-windows-games.com. I did some research and found out that Free GamHelper was installed on my computer without my knowledge or permission and was causing these pop-ups and pop-unders. I discovered, through my research, that Free GamHelper is both adware and browser helper object.

Adware is a program that was written to assist advertisers in getting their advertisements directly to you. Pop-ups are the most common method of doing this, but these ads can also occur in the form of pop-unders, banner ads, and floating advertisements. Adware programs are known to hog your computer’s resources, which includes both your processing power and your bandwidth. This leads to slower computer and Internet. Adware usually gets on your computer from being in a software bundle. That means that you intend to download and install one program, but extra stuff gets installed when you run the installation of the program you wanted.

Browser helper objects, also called BHOs, usually take the form of toolbars, but are additionally known to not show up at all. They usually look like an added search bar when they appear as a toolbar. Browser helper objects are known to change your Internet Explorer settings. This includes both your start page and default search page, as well as hijacking your search results. It is rare that a browser helper object is installed on its own. It is usually part of a bundle and is installed on your computer without you knowing about it until after the fact. Browser helper objects are also known for monitoring your web browsing activity and sending that information to a remote server so the ads you get are more “targeted.”

I did a little digging and discovered you have to have an anti-spyware program to remove this kind of program. I came across an anti-spyware program, ZookaWare PC Cleaner, which gives you a 100% removal guarantee. It has a lot of awards that are trusted by the computer industry to back it up in saying it is a superior program.