{"id":2784,"date":"2011-09-10T06:47:07","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T10:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=2784"},"modified":"2011-09-10T06:47:07","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T10:47:07","slug":"wayne-tries-to-get-rid-of-a-rogue-security-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wayne-tries-to-get-rid-of-a-rogue-security-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayne tries to get rid of a rogue security program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wayne needs to get rid of a rogue security program<\/strong>
\nHow can I remove a rogue program that has invaded my computer. It calls itself Vista Home Security 2012 and it has somehow infiltrated my windows security center with it’s own firewall and antispyware that is giving me one large headache with all kinds of pop ups with warnings of virus attacks security breaches which I know are not true. It wants me to buy the full registered program before it will remove all infections it tells me that I have. I am using Avast Antivirus at this time with SUPERAntiSpyware lifetime user and Registry Mechanic. I have scanted my computer with all these programs and they did not find any problems. They are also all up to date. I have tried using the search program as well as Revo Uninstaller and windows uninstaller but could not find the rogue program anywhere. I am totally frustrated. Could you please help.<\/p>\n

Our answer<\/strong>
\nThe reason the rogue is on your system is because you were tricked into clicking on one of those Windows warning screens that says something like “your computer is infected with blah, blah, blah Trojan”. These warnings do look very realistic and they do trick millions into installing rogues every day. These windows appear at random while browsing the Web. Once you click on the link “to scan your computer”- you’re infected. And rogues escape detection by antispyware and antivirus programs because they are neither spyware or viruses – they are Windows programs. But they’re very pernicious; they install themselves in many places on your computer. They disable your current antispyware and antivirus and take over Windows Security Center and then hold your computer hostage until you pay for license. These rogues don’t protect your computer even after you pay for them – it’s theft by deception which anywhere else but the Web would be punishable by imprisonment.<\/p>\n

But all that is neither here nor there as far as you’re concerned. Your computer is infected and you need to clean out the infection. Now that you’re already infected there are two possible solutions:<\/p>\n

1. Use System Restore to go back to a time before you were infected. Unless you’ve deleted restore points, you should have restore points going back 10-14 days. Go back to the oldest restore point you can find and restore your computer back to that point. The only thing you’ll lose will be any programs you have installed during that time; hopefully the rogue was installed during that time. If you restore back to a point before the rogue was installed, it will be just like it never even happened.<\/p>\n

or<\/p>\n

2. If you don’t have restore points that go back to a time before you installed the rogue, you can try using Malwarebytes to remove the rogue. It is the only program that can remove most rogue security programs even after they’ve been installed. The freeware version will work to remove the rogue. Remember that the freeware version does not include “real-time” protection, so if you use the freeware version, keep in mind that Malwarebytes will remove the rogue but will protect you from being infected again. The Pro version has real-time protection, the freeware version does not. Here are the links to Malwarebytes Free and Pro:<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Malwarebytes<\/a> (free version) – no real-time protection – but very useful anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malwarebytes<\/a> (Pro version) – includes real-time protection – lifetime license.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

You can protect yourself from being tricked again by never clicking on warning dialogs that appear in your browser while you are browsing the Web which warn you that your computer is infected. If that happens again, don’t fool around, shut your browser down immediately by using Task Manager, going to the browser’s process and Ending the Process of your browser. Or shut your computer down immediately at the switch – it’s better than becoming infected. Keep in mind that if you try to close your browser normally during a rogue attack you will (in most cases) not be able to and your computer end up being infected.<\/p>\n

You can’t uninstall the rogue by using Control Panel even if you see an uninstall entry in the Control Panel for it – it’s just a ruse. The above two methods are the quickest and easiest ways to get rid of rogue security software. You will find long and complicated ways to remove the rogue manually, but these are often difficult to implement and not always effective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wayne needs to get rid of a rogue security program How can I remove a rogue program that has invaded my computer. It calls itself Vista Home Security 2012 and it has somehow infiltrated my windows security center with it’s own firewall and antispyware that is giving me one large headache with all kinds of pop ups with\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[92,138,1157,589,140,90,89,1453],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2785,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions\/2785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}