Tutorial on how to remove Privacy Center

Posted by Grinler on March 25, 2009 @ 02:20 PM · Views: 86,220

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What this programs does:

Privacy Center is a rogue program that is a clone of Privacy Components. This rogue is installed through the use of a Trojan that pretends to be video codec required to view an online movie. Once you download and install the codec, though, instead of letting you watch the movie it will instead install Privacy Center on to your computer without your permission. Privacy Center pretends to be an all-in-one privacy suite that has many built-in tools that cannot be used used unless you first purchase the program. These utilities consist of the following:

• Cookie guarder - This utility supposedly cleans cookies from your computer.
  
  
• Secure channel - This utility supposedly allows you to create a secure VPN to Privacy Center's servers so that you can surf the web anonymously. Knowing that this software is installed by Malware, though, would not let me trust any information that goes through their servers.
  
  
• Memory wizard - This utility supposedly optimizes your computer's memory.
  
  
• Surf Protector - This utility supposedly protects your computer from displaying private information on web sites.
  
  
• Registry Doctor - This utility supposedly cleans and repairs your Windows Registry.
  
  
• System Monitor - This utility supposedly displays system information about your computer.

Privacy Center screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 7 images you can view.

When Privacy Center is installed it will be configured to start on your computer automatically. Once running, it will scan your computer and display a variety of privacy risks and computer problems that will not be resolved until you purchase the program. It will also display security warnings from your Windows taskbar stating that your computer has security problems and that you should purchase the program to fix them. As the information Privacy Center displays is all false, we strongly suggest that you do not purchase this software. Instead you should use the free removal instructions below to remove this program and any associated malware.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Privacy Center files.
View Privacy Center Registry Information.

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

Privacy center

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {D032570A-5F63-4812-A094-87D007C23012} - C:\PROGRA~1\PRIVAC~1\tools\sp\spbho.dll
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [agent.exe] C:\Program Files\Privacy center\agent.exe

Guide Updates:

03-25-09 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Privacy Center 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 full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Privacy Center 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 PrivacyCenter 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 PrivacyCenter 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 Privacy Center Files:

c:\Program Files\Privacy center
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\agent.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\pc.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\uninstall.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\guide.html
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg1.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg10.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg2.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg3.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg4.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg5.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg6.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg7.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg8.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\faq\images\gimg9.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\sounds
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\sounds\1.mp3
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\sounds\3.mp3
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc\ca.crt
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc\libeay32.dll
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc\libssl32.dll
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc\OemWin2k.inf
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc\openvpn.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc\tap0801.sys
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sc\tapinstall.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sp
c:\Program Files\Privacy center\tools\sp\spbho.dll
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\dbases
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\dbases\cg.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\dbases\mw.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\dbases\rd.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\dbases\sc.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\dbases\sm.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\dbases\sp.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\keys
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\keys\cg.key
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\keys\rd.key
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\keys\sc.key
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\keys\sp.key
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\temp
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\temp\settings.ini
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Privacy center\temp\spfilter
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Privacy center.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Privacy center
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Privacy center\Privacy center.lnk

Associated Privacy Center Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{D032570A-5F63-4812-A094-87D007C23012}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\spbho.TIEBHO
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{D032570A-5F63-4812-A094-87D007C23012}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Privacy center
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "agent.exe"