This picture is a composite of several of the so called “helper” programs installed on this PC that brought it performance to a crawl. These programs usually start off as a tag along to a “free” program such as a coupon printer or a YouTube downloader. These programs are usually free because they are subsidized by the extra programs.
Once you have one of these programs installed it will usually bother you with annoying pop-ups to upgrade, ads for other products and threatening screens that show that you computer is highly “un-optimized” and about to blow up!
The programs usually fall into a grey category of not quite being malware or a virus but as semi-legitimate software that is of very poor quality or just an add-on meant to display ads to generate revenue. Most removal software will list them under the PUP category. PUP stands for potentially unwanted program.
I have linked to a review of one of the backup programs that we see a lot in these cases. The software will actually back up your files but it’s very expensive, the data is unencrypted, and may not actually be there if you hard drive fails.
These programs can be removed but they can be stubborn and can cause damage to Windows on the way out the door. We have dealt with hundreds of these programs and are able to remove them and restore your computer back to working order.
If you have computer that is being overwhelmed by pop-ups and unwanted programs contact us today to setup an appointment.