Web Companion helps to protect the browser’s settings from changes that are unauthorized. The Web Companion acts as a barrier between your browser and the harmful sites. To make your web experience lighter, safer, and better, Web Companion flags down the malware URLs for all the latest malware. This helps you to be aware of the threat before it gets downloaded on your PC. 

What is Web Companion?

Web Companion was introduced by Lavasoft. Among all the versions, the version 2.1.1265.2535 is the most common. Of all the downloads of Web Companion, 54% of them are this version. When PC boots up, this software creates a startup registration point. By doing so, it gets started automatically when a computer is switched on.

When this software is installed, a Windows Service is added to the computer. This helps the Web Companion to run in the background. It is seen that stopping the service manually causes the software to malfunction. However, you can delay the starting time of this software with the help of the Service Manager. You can add a scheduled task to the Windows Task Scheduler. This will help you to schedule a time for launching the Web Companion. 

Why is it Important to Remove Web Companion?

Even though the Web Companion helps you flag down malware, there are some drawbacks to it as well. This software can insert ads into your webpage, spy on your activities and change the search settings as well. With all these things going on, it feels like the main motive of Web Companion is not to protect your privacy, rather promote ads and make money from it.

Your default web provider will be set to Bing when you install Web Companion. Moreover, you cannot change this setting. If by any means you are able to avoid this setting, it will ask you to change your setting to its preferred one 3 times more until it stops bothering you. It will not stop there. With the help of many techniques, it will try to make you go for Bing. It forces you so much to download Bing because Lavasoft sponsors it.

Another reason for concern is because, in earlier days, it was found that Web Companion uses Komodia. Komodia is a feature that was responsible for Superfish. Komodia can overcome the security of the browser. As a result, your browser will be compromised and it will be able to inject sponsored content and ads and read encrypted websites. This activity is completely opposite of what Web Companion promises to do.

Keeping all these aside, the most concerning fact about Web Companion is the policy of Lavasoft. According to their policy, they can share some of your ‘non-personal’ data with third parties. Also, the information that is posted publicly by you is not considered confidential. Hence, they can record it and share it. So, it will be safer if you consider Web Companion removal. However, before going on with the removal process, you may be wondering how it got into your computer. 

How the adware Web Companion gets Installed into your Computer?

Web Companion uses unfair methods to get installed into the computer system of the users. Some users get confused when they find Web Companion on their computers. This is because they never downloaded it intentionally.

Web Companion and other programs of the same type can get installed on your computer without you granting permission willfully. This is done by “bundling”, which is a very popular method for distraction. Normally, in order to install additional softwares, a program needs permission from the user. However, with bundling, the people are tricked into downloading the software. Sometimes, these permissions are hard to see and they are accepted by default.

The kind of trick Web Companion uses indicates that it is not really there to protect the users. They can compromise your personal data and can put malware and adware into your computer. So, now let us see the methods for Web Companion removal.   

Procedure to Remove Adware Web Companion

Keeping Web Companion on your computer will only harm your computer even more. So, to remove it completely from your computer, you can follow the steps given below.

Process of Web Companion Removal via Control Panel

  1. First of all, you have to get your mouse over the Start icon. If you are a Windows 8 user, then you have to right-click on it and select the option of “Control Panel”. After that, you have to go to the option of “Programs”. Then, for Windows Vista, 7 and 8, you can click on the option of “Uninstall a Program”. However, if you are a Windows XP user, then you have to select the option of “Add or Remove Programs”. 
  2. Then, you have to locate “Web Companion” on the list of programs. After that, click on it and then click on the “Uninstall” option if you are a Windows Vista, 7, or 8 users. For Windows XP users, you have to click on the “Remove” tab which will be located at the right of the window.
  3. Now, you have to follow the prompts on the screen to successfully uninstall the Web Companion software. After that, you will see a progress bar on the screen. This will tell you the time left to complete the uninstallation process. 

Removing adware Web Companion from Chrome

Now, let us see the procedure of removing Web Companion from the Chrome browser.

  1. Open Chrome and on the top right corner of the screen, click on its “menu”. Then, from within the menu, you have to click on “Settings”. 
  2. After that, from the left menu bar, select the option of “Extensions”. 
  3. Now, you have to check the list of extensions for the extensions of Web Companion or any other extensions you do not require. After that, you have to click on the icon of the bin beside the extensions you want to delete. 
  4. When you click on the bin, you will see a confirmation window appearing on the screen. On this window, you have to click on the “Remove” option. 
  5. Now you have to restart Chrome. This will complete the deleting process of the adware Web Companion. 

Reset the Settings of Chrome

Deleting the extensions from the computer does the job most of the time. However, sometimes the changes made in Chrome settings by the adware Web Companion may still exist. For that, you can follow the given steps to solve the problem completely.

  1. Go to the menu button of Chrome. Then you have to click on “Settings”. 
  2. Now, click on the button of “Reset settings”  located at the bottom of the page. 
  3. After that, you have to select the option of “Reset” on the confirmation window. 

After this process, the problem will get resolved. 

Conclusion

I hope that from the above discussions, you are able to understand what is Web Companion and why it is necessary to carry out the Web Companion removal process? It tends to do more harm to your computer than protecting it from harmful malware. Hence it is in the best interest of the users to remove Web Companion from your computer and browser as soon as possible.