How To Remove Winhound

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How To Remove Winhound, Self-Help Guide

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Grinler View Member Profile	Dec 11 2005, 12:09 PM Post #1
Bleep Bleep! Group: Admin Posts: 29,367 Joined: 24-January 04 From: USA Member No.: 3	How to remove WinHound Credits: noahdfear Note: The removal program is updated whenever a new file is found that is associated with this infection. When new updates are released, I will mention the update date in the topic description. You should remove the current SmitRem folder that you created, and redownload the SmitRem as per the instructions given in this topic. What this program does: WinHound is a anti-spyware program that is known to issue fake warnings on your computer in order to manipulate you into buying its full commercial version. If you are infected with this program you may receive warnings in your task bar that appear to be from Microsoft Security Center stating that you are infected with spyware and to run its special anti-spyware tool. This tool turns out to be the commercial version of WinHound. These warnings are fake and are a goad to have you buy the commercial version of this software. WinHound Program Tools Needed for this fix: smitRem.exe Symptoms in a HijackThis Log: O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinHound] C:\Program Files\WinHound\WinHound.exe Removal Instructions: Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix. Go to this page and click on the smitRem Download Link link to download smitRem.exe. When downloading smitRem.exe save it to your desktop. You will now see an icon on your desktop that looks like the one below. Double-click on the smitRem.exe file. You will now see a screen similar to the one below. Click on the Start button and the program will start extracting the files into a folder on your desktop called smitRem. When it is finished, click on the OK button. If you look on your desktop you will now see a folder called smitRem. Next, please reboot your computer into Safe Mode by doing the following: Restart your computer After hearing your computer beep once during startup, but before the Windows icon appears, press F8. Instead of Windows loading as normal, a menu should appear Select the first option, to run Windows in Safe Mode. When your computer has started in safe mode and you see the desktop, close all open Windows. Open the smitRem folder on your desktop and the contents of the folder will be similar to the image below. Double-click on the RunThis.bat file, as shown by the arrow in the image above, to start the tool. When the tool starts you will see a series of screens with information on them. Read each screen, and when you are finished reading it, simply press any key on your keyboard. After reading the various screens that appear, the program will start the removal process. If there is an uninstaller present for the infection you are removing, smitRem will start this uninstaller which will looks similar to the image below. Simply click on the Uninstall button and allow the uninstaller to finish. When it has completed uninstalling, press the Finish button and smitRem will prompt you to continue. Now you should press any key to continue. When no more uninstallers can be found, the tool will continue. Your desktop will disappear and you will start seeing text scroll across the screen. This is normal and nothing to be concerned about. When smitRem has finished running it will automatically start the Disk Cleanup program as shown by the image below. This program will remove all Temp, Temporary Internet Files, and empty your Recycle Bin in order to remove any leftover files installed by this infection. This process can take up to a few hours depending on your computer, so please be patient. When it is complete, it will close automatically and you will be back at your desktop. When the tool is finished, it will will create a log named smitfiles.txt in the root of your drive, eg; Local Disk C: or the partition where your operating system is installed. Examining that log should show that the infection was cleaned. Reboot your computer back to normal mode. Your computer should now be free of the WinHound infection. If you are still having problems with spyware after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below: Preparation Guide For Use Before Posting A Hijackthis Log If you feel that this tool has saved you time and/or money and you would like to donate to noahdfear for the time and effort he has put into this free tool, you can do so by clicking on the *PayPal Donate* button below. This is a self-help guide. Use at your own risk. BleepingComputer.com can not be held responsible for problems that may occur by using this information. If you would like help with any of these fixes, you can post a HijackThis log in our HijackThis Logs and Analysis forum. If you have any questions about this self-help guide then please post those questions in our AntiVirus, Firewall and Privacy Products and Protection Methods forum and someone will help you. This post has been edited by Grinler: Jul 13 2006, 03:36 PM -------------------- Lawrence

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