Archive: malware

I use linux. I prefer it over Windows for many reasons. It's more resistant to viruses, less of a target, but that doesn't mean that malware or other viruses are impossible. If someone were to trick …

A recent malware removal session gave a very frustrating error in trying to boot into safe mode. I was unable to boot into safe mode, safe mode with networking or even safe mode with the command prom…

Live Enterprise Suite is yet another rogue security application. This is a successor to the frustrating Internet Antivirus Pro and Ghost Antivirus rogues. Like many of these security rogues they are …

This article may come in handy if you are out there battling the latest rogue du jour. Occasionally I have been through a cleaning process for these rogues and got to a point where the scanner had ru…

APCSafe is another of the recent variations on the Wini family of rogue antivirus applications. Like all the others it is pushed by trojan activity... this is typically a video site that claims to ha…

PCSecure is a recent rogue antivirus from the notorious and prolific wini family of rogue security software. It is typically promoted via trojan downloaders. Usually these will be on a website with a…

Desktop Security 2010 is a rogue antivirus application. It is a successor to Total PC Defender and installs on your pc without permission through the use of malware. Once on your system it will creat…

APCSecure is yet another rogue antivirus application from the prolific and annoying wini family of rogues. This particular variant also comes with a rootkit called TDL3. Trojans are used to promote t…

ProtectSoldier followed right on the heels of ProtectDefender as another entry of rogue antivirus software in the notorious and prolific wini family of rogues. Like all of them it is installed via tr…

ProtectDefender is yet another recent rogue antivirus application from the wini family. As with many of the other entrants from this family, it is installed through the use of bogus flash updates and…

Armor Defender is the latest rogue antivirus from the wini family of rogues. It takes a bit of a departure from the recent look of their rogues. However, like all of it's other cousins in the fact th…

Win Security 360 is a rogue antivirus application that is promoted through the use of trojans and other malware as well as sites that claim to do malware scans of your computer. Among the things that…

DefendAPC is the latest variation on the Wini family of rogue antivirus. It is typically promoted via the use of trojans, malware and aggressive advertising. Once installed on the system it will run …

Ghost Antivirus is a rogue antivirus application that is the successor to Antivirus Pro. This rogue is pushed through trojan horse activity and aggressive advertising tactics. It makes things very ch…

Guard Pro is a rogue antivirus application that is promoted through the use of malware and trojan horses. Once it is installed on a system it will run at startup and will scan the computer claiming t…

It looks like we've been awash in variants of the wini family lately so I'm combining three of the latest rogue antivirus applications in that family into one post. This post will talk about removing…

PCSProtector is a rogue antivirus application from the winisoft family of rogues. They are essentially clones of each other and all resemble each other with the minor modification of the name of the …

Antivirus PC 2009 is a rogue antivirus application that is installed through malware and other nefarious means. Once installed on your system it will complain about security problems on your system. …

GreatDefender is a rogue antivirus application from the winisoft family. It is installed onto a system through the use of trojans and other malware which should give you an indication that it is not …

SystemCleanerPro is a rogue antivirus application. It is a part of the WinSpywareProtect family and will run at system startup. It will popup many warnings about your computers security (or lack ther…

AntiSpyware Shield Pro is a rogue antivirus that typically is installed via trojans or other malware. Once it's invited itself onto the system it will do all sorts of things. It will popup warnings a…

Total PC Defender is a rogue antivirus application that installs via malware and trojans. The software then runs each time the system boots and will run a fake scan that is designed to scare the user…

APCProtect is the latest rogue antivirus product in the wini family of rogue security sotware. It is generally pushed through sites that claim in order to view a video you need to install a video cod…

Anti-Virus Elite is a rogue antivirus application. These rogue antivirus applications pose as a legitimate security application, but in reality is a scam to try to trick you out of money. They will f…

ProtectPCs is a rogue antivirus application from the Wini family of rogues. It will push itself through claims of it being a video codec update or flash player update. Usually these appear on a site …

Malware Defense (or malware defence) is a rogue antivirus application that will install itself on your system and then claim that there are many security problems and even viruses on your system. It …

Data Doctor 2010 is a rogue antivirus application. It will pop up warnings and claim that your system is infected with viruses or has other security problems. In reality the worst problem you have is…

Sysdefence is another rogue antivirus application from the wini family. This family of rogues has been quite prolific lately and typically is pushed on computer users through aggressive trojans that …

TheDefend is a rogue antivirus program that is one of the latest incarnations of the wini family of rogues. It will introduce itself onto your system through aggressive advertising claiming to be a v…

System Adware Scanner 2010 is a new and aggressive rogue antivirus application. Once installed on a system it creates a program that acts as a guard of sorts for it's main process. This guard process…

GuardPCs looks like the latest entry from the wini family of rogues. (They just keep churning out new ones every other day it seems.) They're using the same template these days of course, just the na…

IGuardPC is one of the latest clones of the winisoft family of rogue antivirus applications. It is typically installed through the use of trojans and fake video codec and or (faked) flash player upda…

Internet Security 2010 is the name of a rogue antivirus application that is one of the more recent to be making the rounds. It will typically install itself on your system through the use of other ma…

Safety Antispyware is a rogue antivirus application that will scan your computer and claim that many files are infected with viruses and need to be deleted. The main problem is that these claims are …

SiteAdware is a rogue antivirus application that is typically installed without the computer users express permission. It is promoted through trojans and fake video codec or flash player updates. Onc…

AntiTroy is a rogue antivirus application that is usually installed through trojans that are masquerading as a video codec update or flash player update. It usually installs without the computer user…

Antivirus Live is a rogue antivirus application that usually is installed without the permission of the owner of the computer. Simple web browsing may be enough when visiting the wrong site for this …

PC Live Guard is a Rogue antivirus application that typically installs on a system through aggressive advertising and fake scan sites. You will see things that pop up appearing to be a scan of your c…

Live PC Care is a rogue antivirus application that is advertised and promoted through misleading ads and aggressive tactics. In many cases the ad may be an animation of a scan of a computer that clai…

AntiKeep is a rogue antivirus application from the same family as ReAnti and AntiAdd which we've written about in the last few days. Like many of these rogue application they will try to trick you in…

Personal Security is a rogue antivirus application that comes from the same (dreaded) family as the Cyber Security rogue. It usually installs on the users computer without the permission of the compu…

AntiAdd is a rogue antivirus application. It is installed via trojans that claim to be video codec or flash player updates and then once installed on the system it will claim to be scanning your comp…

ReSpyWare is a rogue antivirus/ antimalware application in the same family as Reanti,keepcop and secure keeper and unfortunately a very very long line of other predecessors. They are not much differe…

Antivir is a rogue antivirus application that is pushed through web site popup ads on unsuspecting users. Basically in web browsing you may see a popup claiming that your computer is infected and you…

ReAnti is a rogue antivirus application from the Wini family. It is typically promoted through supposed flash player updates or video codec updates. Once on your system it will pretend to run a scan …

Malware Professional 2010 is a rogue security application. It is not a trusted malware removal utility and I hope users won't be fooled by their claims of problem on their system that it claims only …

KeepCop is yet another of those rogue antivirus applications that seem to be such a plague on computer users today. These rogue security applications usually installed without permission, or by means…

Additional Guard is a rogue antivirus application and like many of these it can either be installed with or without the users permission. Even without a person actually wanting it, but simply visitin…

Eco Antivirus 2010 is a slight twist (renaming) of the recent Eco Antivirus rogue that has made the rounds. These rogues pretend to be antivirus, or antispyware software, but in reality are not much …

SecureKeeper is a rogue antivirus application in the Wini family (with their recent new look user interface.) The Wini family is a very long running line of rogue security applications that have been…

SiteVillain is another new rogue security or rogue antivirus program from the Wini family. Like a couple other of the recent rogue applications from the wini group, this one sports their new user int…

Personal Protector is a rogue antivirus program that is advertised through aggressive advertising and fake scan sites. Fake scan sites are web pages that upon loading appear to be running a virus sca…

Control Center is a Rogue Security application that is designed to scare people into paying for it. It is a scam. All of it's claims about compromised system security are falsified and it really does…

LinkSafeness is a rogue security application that sports the new design that the Wini family of Rogue Antivirus has been using. It is usually installed through sites that claim you need a video codec…

Last week I had the opportunity to remove Antivirus System Pro from not one, but two machines. Given that I was seeing it a bit more frequently I thought it might be a new rogue antivirus application…

Enterprise Suite is a rogue antivirus application that is a successor to Windows Enterprise Suite. Enterprise Suite is usually installed without permission on a machine and displays numerous fake sca…

System Defender is a rogue antivirus application that pushes itself to users through the use of scary popups and attack sites. The software, once it is installed will create numerous files and then c…

SystemWarrior is a rogue security application from the Wini family. It was the last in a long line of Wini rogues to use the older user interface before the release of AntiAid (you never know - they …

AntiAid is a rogue antivirus/security program that is from the Wini family of Rogues. This is a bit of a departure from much of the long recent history of these rogues due to a new user interface. Th…

Antimalware is the name of a particularly interesting rogue antivirus and rogue antimalware application. One tip off that it is a rogue application is that one of it's first actions is the attempted …

Cyber Protection Center is related to Cyber Security (see how to remove cyber security). These are rogue antivirus applications that will generate many warnings and error messages on your system clai…

System Fighter is a rogue antivirus application. It is the latest variation in the relentless wini family of rogues. (The last of these was systemveteran (systemveteran removal guide.) Rogue antiviru…

SystemVeteran is (yet another) variation from the wini family of rogue antivirus applications. Their last one prior to this was BlockProtector (BlockProtector Removal Guide) but it is a VERY long liv…

MaCatte Antivirus 2009 is a rogue antivirus application that hopes you will mistake it for the popular McAfee antivirus. Their look and feel is very similar to that of McAfee, but as most rogue antiv…

So... the tail end of last week saw another new variant in the Wini family of rogue antivirus: blockprotector. It's the successor to..... Blockscanner (blockscanner removal guide) as well as the long…

BlockScanner looks very much like it's sibling blockwatcher and indeed these two rogue antivirus applications come from the same prolific family (wini). This family includes numerous other rogue anti…

BlockWatcher is another iteration in the LONG line from the Wini family.... Softbarrier (softbarrier removal) and many others have looked the same... Shieldsafeness (see the shieldsafeness removal gu…

Windows Enterprise Suite is a rogue antivirus application that is made to look like and mimic the actions of legitimate security applications, but it is likely the cause of more problems on your syst…

Desktop Defender 2010 is a rogue antivirus program. It will prompt you with popups complaining about various problems that it claim your system has as well as scanning your computer and consistently …

Softbarrier is the latest in the long line of Wini rogue antivirus programs that include.... Shieldsafeness (see the shieldsafeness removal guide) as well as... SoftStronghold (softstronghold removal…

The prolific and frustrating VUNDO trojan family is currently in the process of bringing a new gift to those with the misfortune of being infected with the vundo trojan. This is a new rogue antivirus…

The Wini family of rogue antivirus software has given us yet another version in the last couple days... ShieldSafeness. This is quick on the heels of SoftStronghold (softstronghold removal guide) and…

SoftStronghold is the latest rogue antivirus application in the LONG line of Wini rogues... Softveteran was the most recent (see the softveteran removal guide) but.... SoftCop (see the SoftCop remova…

Windows System Defender is a new rogue antivirus software along the lines of Windows PC Defender (See the Windows PC Defender Removal guide) (I believe it's the same family of malware.) It claims to …

SoftVeteran is the latest version of the long and seemingly never ending line of rogue antivirus programs known as the wini family. The most recent was SoftCop (see the SoftCop removal guide.) But, t…

TRE Antivirus is a new entry in the Wini Family of rogue antivirus software. This family includes SoftCop (SoftCop Removal), Softsoldier (How to remove SoftSoldier), ( TrustFighter TrustFighter Remov…

SoftCop seems to be another rogue antivirus entry in the quite prolific Wini family which includes such rogues as the recent Softsoldier (How to remove SoftSoldier), ( TrustFighter TrustFighter Remov…

PC Scout is another rogue application with a similar look and feel to the Windows Security Center. (It's also apparently a clone of the same family as ActiveSecurity (ActiveSecurity Removal) It likel…

ActiveSecurity is a rogue antivirus application that uses graphics to indicate a similarity with Microsoft Security Center. It installs via malware including trojans and brings several files along wi…

Soft Soldier is yet another entry in the long wini line of rogue antivirus applications. ( TrustFighter TrustFighter Removal Guide, TrustSoldier removal guide and the following others... SafeFighter …

Windows Enterprise Defender is a rogue antivirus application that uses the name of Windows Defender and the similarities of their name to appear as an official product or add on to windows. Of course…

Windows Smart Security is a rogue spyware application that may fool people into installing and purchasing due to the use of the words Windows and Security in the title. It may fool people into thinki…

TrustFighter sports a very familiar face, but a different name. Trustfighter is a rogue security application that is in the long line of similar applications such as TrustSoldier (TrustSoldier remova…

TrustSoldier is a rogue antivirus application that comes from the same family of rogue antivirus that includes: SafeFighter (Safefighter Removal), TrustCop (TrustCop Removal Guide), SecureWarrior (Se…

Cyber Security is a rogue antivirus application. It is in the same family as totalsecurity (total security Removal Guide) and SystemSecurity. This software installs through web popups and trojan hors…

SafeFighter is a rogue antivirus application in the same family as TrustCop (TrustCop Removal Guide), SecureWarrior (SecureWarrior Removal), SecurityFighter (SecurityFighter Removal), SecuritySoldier…

TrustCop is another rogue antivirus application in the long line of the family that gave us SecureSoldier (SecureSoldier removal guide), SecureWarrior (SecureWarrior Removal Guide) and countless othe…

The clampi virus is in the news in a couple places today. Surprisingly it's in Symantec's virus database since January and rated as a low risk. However, the sole purpose of this trojan is to monitor …

I'm seeing a lot of searches for how to remove the rogue antivirus green AV. It looks like it's the latest flavor of the minute in the rogue security application crowd. My usual path for removing a r…

I have started referring to malware more and more lately because the term virus doesn't exactly describe the pests I see on peoples machines and the terms spyware or adware aren't doing justice to so…