Internet Explorer offers several ways in which other programs can change it's behavior and improve it's features. This was a wise decision made by Microsoft when they developed Internet Explorer.
For example, Internet Explorer can not, by itself, display highly animated web sites. But, because Internet Explorer can be extended, another company called Macromedia has created a plug-in called Flash, which can display multimedia web sites. Also, Internet Explorer does not have a search toolbar. Google, for example, has developed such a toolbar. Internet Explorer supports browser plug-ins and BHOs (Browser Helper Objects).
Plug-ins are software programs that extend the capabilities of the browser in a specific way - giving you, for example, the ability to play audio samples or view video movies from within your browser.
Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) are small programs that can observe and control almost everything that Internet Explorer is doing. For example, a Browser Helper Object gets notified every time you browse to a new page and every time you download a new program.
Many applications you install on your computer can also install a BHO or a plug-in. Some examples:
There are also some examples that are not so nice: spyware and adware makers have developed Internet Explorer BHOs which help them track the pages you visit and your purchase habits on the web. Many times, these plug-ins and BHOs are badly written and crash or slow down Internet Explorer.
The Internet Explorer Plugins tool allows you to disable or uninstall plug-ins and BHOs.
In the upper list, you can see all the Internet Explorer plug-ins and BHOs that are installed on your computer.
The Disable button disables a plug-in or BHO and moves it to the bottom list. Disabling a plug-in or BHO means that it won't be loaded or used by Internet Explorer, so it won't have any influence on your computer.
The Remove button directly removes and erases a plug-in or BHO.
You can, at any time, enable a plug-in or BHO by pressing the Enable button.
If you use the IE Plugins tool to disable some spyware/adware, we recommend you to also use the Startup Manager tool and carefully examine your startup programs. Some spyware BHOs come together with programs that run at startup.