Learn how to remove Malware Defender 2009 (Removal Guide)

Posted by Grinler on March 22, 2009 @ 03:05 PM · Views: 28,524

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What this programs does:

Malware Defender 2009 is a program from the same family as System Guard 2009 and Spyware Guard 2009. This rogue is promoted by the Trojan Vundo infection, which displays fake security alerts and pop-ups that state your computer is infected. These pop-ups will then state that you should run an online anti-malware scanner in order to scan your computer for malware. Once you click on this pop-up, you will be brought to a page that displays an advertisement pretending to be an online anti-malware scanner. Once the advertisement is finished, it will state your computer has a variety of malware and then prompt you to download and install Malware Defender 2009 in order to protect your computer. While infected with the Vundo infection, you will constantly be barraged by these types of popups.

Malware Defender 2009 screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 6 images you can view.

When Malware Defender is installed it will be configured to automatically load when you start your computer. Once started, it will scan your computer and list a variety of malware infections that will not be removed until you purchase the software. These infections, though, are all nonexistent and only being shown to make you think you are infected so that you purchase their software. Bundled with Malware Defender is another Trojan called C:\Windows\System32\wcenter.exe, which will display a fake Windows Security Center window on your desktop. This fake security center is a clone of the legitimate Windows Security Center, except that it tries to promote the Malware Defender 2009 program instead of legitimate programs. Last but not least, due to this program always running in the background, displaying fake alerts, and showing the fake Windows Security Center, your computer may start to become slower than it should be. In order to properly remove this malware, and the Vundo infection, please use the removal guide below to uninstall this program.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Malware Defender 2009 files.
View Malware Defender 2009 Registry Information.

Entries for this program found in the Add or Remove Programs control panel:

Malware Defender 2009

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [malwaredef] C:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\malwaredef.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [updater] C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\install.exe /u
O21 - SSODL: HardwareDrivers - {8B2C743A-D44A-4A93-8233-ABEE8BF8ED62} - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\Drivers\hdddriver.dll
O21 - SSODL: DriversLoad - {3F0691F1-70E6-44A9-938A-1DC356674878} - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\Drivers\vifwnhzqoe.dll

Guide Updates:

03-15-09 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Malware Defender 2009 using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

1. Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
   
   
2. Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
   
   Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link
   
   


3. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
   
   
4. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
   
   
5. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.
   
   
6. MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main program as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Malware Defender 2009 related files.
   
   
8. MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the MalwareDefender 2009 removal process.
   
   
10. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
    
    
11. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
    
    
12. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
    
    
13. You can now exit the MBAM program.
    

Your computer should now be free of the MalwareDefender 2009 program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.

If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:

Preparation Guide For Use Before Posting A Hijackthis Log

Associated Malware Defender 2009 Files:

c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\conf.cfg
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\malwaredef.exe
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\mbase.vdb
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\quarantine.vdb
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\queue.vdb
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\uninstall.exe
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\vbase.vdb
c:\Program Files\Malware Defender 2009\quarantine
c:\WINDOWS\reged.exe
c:\WINDOWS\spoolsystem.exe
c:\WINDOWS\sys.com
c:\WINDOWS\syscert.exe
c:\WINDOWS\sysexplorer.exe
c:\WINDOWS\vmreg.dll
c:\WINDOWS\system32\wcenter.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\Drivers
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\win.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\svchos.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\t.id
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\Drivers\c.cgm
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\Drivers\hdddriver.dll
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index\Drivers\vifwnhzqoe.dll
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\install.exe
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Malware Defender 2009.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Malware Defender 2009
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Malware Defender 2009\Malware Defender 2009.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Malware Defender 2009\Uninstall.lnk

Associated Malware Defender 2009 Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3F0691F1-70E6-44A9-938A-1DC356674878}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{8B2C743A-D44A-4A93-8233-ABEE8BF8ED62}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Malware Defender 2009
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Malware Defender 2009
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "updater"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "malwaredef"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad "DriversLoad"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad "HardwareDrivers"