I know there is a site somewhere that lists which BHOs are safe and unsafe. But when Spybot prompts me that a new BHO is being added to the registry, I decline having the value added. I do it as a precaution since I don't know whether it is safe or not. Would it matter that I am not allowing the registry of a BHO?

Also, because of a previous malware (homepage hijacker) infection, one left a BHO that Spybot couldn't delete from the registry as it keeps on reinstalling itself. Has anyone else encountered the same thing?

BHO's are generally not a good idea for the security conscious user. IE uses it as a plug-in i believe when you use IE. If it comes up in your Spybot, try to Google the name of the item and see if comes up as safe or not.

There's also sites that tell you every process name in your Task Manager and what you can safely turn off or not...but that's a different story.

I have a similar BHO problem as the result of a hijacking. I just refuse BHOs as a matter of principle. I don't really want to take the time to find out whether they're okay or not. One bad experience was enough.

Hmm.. I feel pretty dumb today. I am not even sure what a BHO is. I am pretty sure I don't have any now, and I vaguely remember the terminology when using Hijack This! in the past. Anyone care to fill me in or refresh my memory?

I didn't know about BHOs either until I had a malware infection. A BHO (browser helper object) "is a DLL module designed as a plugin for Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser to provide added functionality" (source).

Originally Posted by capitalist junkie

I have a similar BHO problem as the result of a hijacking.

So you still haven't removed the BHO?

Ah thanks for the explanation beatrix. Probably explains a lot. I almost never use IE. So my exposure to them has been limited.