If you have problems with your browser opening up to a home page that is not of your choosing, or defaulting to a search engine which isn’t quite right that you have never heard of, you have been the victim of a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP). They often get installed on the back of a piece of software that you actually did want, usually free, often as a suggestion, like an upsell — would you like this toolbar to also be installed? You unthinkingly click “Next”, and before you know it, your browser is popping up ads, and your home page isn’t Google. Sometimes it’s even worse. Your machine starts to run very slowly, and you are sending spam email to your friends.

I have two free program suggestions for you. The first is Malwarebytes. (Direct download link). This program scans for all kinds of adware/malware/PUPs, and is very effective at removing them. The scan took about 10 minutes on my machine.

The second free program suggestion is not a malware removal tool, but more of a tidying up tool. It is CCleaner. (Direct download link). CCleaner can help you find old registry links that are invalid, as well as clean up files from your browser. In the toolbox is an easy uninstall programs tool. You can easily view registry settings for programs starting up when your computer loads.