"Search Protector's".......... Alert!
Yep! That's what they call them. 'Wajam' 'Bling' 'Conduit' and others all STUFFED on your computer whether you like it or not. Problem is I don't remember what it was I loaded that halted my computer as though a brick wall was in the way.
I spent something over two hours looking for 'strangers' and lo and behold a programme call Optimizer Pro, which I did NOT seek or download suddenly appeared amongst those above.
IE crashed, Live Mail crashed, and other progs just would not open.
I decided to do a system restore and even that was made useless!
I restarted and that made no difference.
Then I sought the help of Malware - it found 198 PUP's including ALL of the above.
I simply gave them a tick and got rid of them. Malware then threw up and urgent 're-start' - very urgent.
Then tried to open everything that was corrupted before - and job done!
These programmes that invade us should be dealt with as a real enemy. I will keep looking to see if they get back that's for sure.
The principal is that these so called search protectors STOP you using the
what YOU want.
PPP