Browser helper object - Definition

This page should be incoporated into Browser Helper Object and deleted

A browser helper object, or BHO, is a plug-in for the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser.

The BHO Application Programming Interface, or API, exposes hooks that allow the BHO to access the Document Object Model, or DOM, of the current page and to control navigation. This means that the darker side to a BHO is that it can be used as Spyware, tracking the user data and traffic. This is certainly not always the case, an example of a more positive use is the Google toolbar, which can be used to perform searches from the browser.

Each BHO is a COM object inside a Dynamic Link Library, or DLL, that is loaded once by each new instance of Internet Explorer, however in the case of the Windows File Explorer a new instance is launched for each window.

External links

• Browser Helper Objects: The Browser the Way You Want It by Dino Esposito (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwebgen/html/bho.asp)
• IEHelper-Attaching to Internet Explorer 4.0 by Using a Browser Helper Object (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3BEN-US%3Bq179230)
• A Base Class for a BHO (http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/win/com/bho.html)
• What is a Browser Helper Object? (http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm)
• Pests Detected by PestPatrol and Classified as "Browser Helper Object" (http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/browser_helper_object.asp)