BHOs are Component Object Model commponenets that communicate with Internet Explorer to improve the browsing experience. A web browser like Internet Explorer and Firefox enables to search and browse the Internet. The browser helper object is a plug in that is intended for specific browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Firefox. Some BHOs are used to load malware such as adware, spyware, or trojans. The browser helper object spy on the computer user's activities while they are using their browser and even send passwords typed into web pages to a third party.

This Spyware will actually install programming code into the web browser. It can do various things when started. BHO Captor helps the browser by detecting events, generating windows to display additional information on a viewed page and can monitor messages. Browser Helper Objects helps to write components specifically, that Internet Explorer will load each time it starts up.

How Downloaded BHO’s Can Create Problems for the Browser and the PC

Only a single Browser Helper Object registered will load with Internet Explorer 5.0, because of an internal buffer problem. Successive loads of other registered BHOs fail without obvious error. Microsoft has confirmed this to be an error. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.01.

The difficulty with BHOs is that there is no way within Internet Explorer to view what BHOs are attached or to manage the attachment of new BHOs. There is some software that are currently attached to BHOs and allows to disable them. Running Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Server with latest security updates may direct the error when viewing some web sites. This problem may have been caused by browser helper object. The BHO is used to simplify user interaction when signing and encrypting emails, as well as decrypting and checking signed and encrypted email messages using Internet Explorer.

Continue to: Problems Created by Browser Helper Object