If you have or have ever encountered a security virus you will already be familiar with some of the symptoms involved here.
Such as inability to run any .exe files or download Antimalware software to remove it, cannot browse to chosen websites, splash screens asking you to visit a website that wants you to pay for the software.
In short a security virus/malware tries to take over and lock down your computer in an effort to stop you removing it, trying giving you no option other than to pay for the software.
Don’t be fooled into handing over any credit card details as this will not make any difference to the software and it will not stop or be removed, plus you might actually find some pretty hefty charges on your credit card.
Security Malware/Virus Removal
There are a number of ways to remove security malware and we’ve had pretty good success with them all, and have never had to wipe or rebuild a computer to get rid of one yet.
- security malware will usually prevent anything from running as a way to stop itself being removed, if possible remove your computers hard drive and place into an external caddy, connect it to the USB port of another computer then install and run something such as Malwarebytes over the hard drive to remove the security virus while it is not active.
- To be able to remove the security malware we need to be able to run some type of antimalware, but of course the security virus will not allow that, so to begin with we need to terminate its process, to do this there is a great little free application called Process Explorer (it can be found easily via Google) which you need to download from another computer and put onto a pen drive then run this on your infected pc.
As the Process Explorer file itself is standalone there is no installation so it should still run, you might get the security virus flag up about an unauthorized application, but ignore this and then you should see the process explorer screen.
If your lucky you might find the malware showing up in red, or If your particular security malware has a name look for this within process explorer, but as many don’t look for processes that have no description, it might be a little bit hit and miss but you should be able to find the process without too much difficulty, once you do right click on the process and Kill Process or Kill Process Tree.
It’s worth selecting properties and making a note of the malwares directory so you can also delete it.
Once the security virus’s process has been terminated you should be ok to get online and download some antimalware software once installed run the antimalware’s scan it will completely remove the security virus.
On another note once you’re happy your computer is working fine make sure your delete all your computers restore points as these may still contain the virus.
Deleting Restore Points
Start Menu – Control Panel – System – System Restore – Place tick in box to Turn off System Restore – Click apply – Accept message – Un-tick box and then click ok.
There will of course be more variations of this type of malware in the future, so please contact us if you experience any so we can make the removal information available for everyone.
computer adviser security malware article