I had a run in with a program recently that made a lot of pop-ups occur out of nowhere. When the pop-ups started, I decided I needed to figure out what was going on. So I did some research. I found out that HomepageProtector was responsible for my troubles. I discovered through my research that HomepageProtector is both adware and a browser helper object.

Adware is a program that was written to assist advertisers in getting their advertisements directly to you. This is usually done through the use of pop-ups, but also occurs in the forms of pop-unders, banner ads, and floating advertisements. Adware programs are known to hog your computer’s resources, both your processing power and your bandwidth, leading to a slower computer and Internet. Adware usually gets on your computer from being in a software bundle. That means you intend to download and install one program, but extra stuff gets installed when you install the program you wanted.

Browser helper objects, also called BHOs, usually take the form of toolbars. They usually look like an added search bar. Browser helper objects are known to change your web browser settings such as both the 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.

You can’t remove HomepageProtector using add/remove programs. It will just come back. To fully remove HomepageProtector you have to use an anti-spyware program. The problem is that most anti-spyware programs only remove about 80-90% of any infection. This leaves you either still infected or with enough left for it to reinstall itself. Lucky for us ZookaWare PC Cleaner came along and turned the industry on its ear. ZookaWare PC Cleaner offers a 100% removal guarantee. Not only that, but when you have ZookaWare PC Cleaner running on your machine you are protected from future infections.