Remove System Defender (Uninstall Guide)
Posted by Lawrence Abrams on March 10, 2011 @ 11:28 AM · Views: 72,299
What this infection does:
System Defender is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same
family as Internet
Defender. When System Defender is installed onto a computer it will be configured
to start automatically when Windows starts. Once started it will perform a fake
scan of your computer and then state that there are numerous infections present.
If you attempt to remove any of these so-called infections with the program
it will state that it is unable to do so until you purchase it. As none of the
infection files actually exist on your computer, please disregard these scan
results and do not purchase the program.
System Defender screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 4 images you can view.
While System Defender 2011 is running it will also display numerous fake
security alerts warnings that are designed to make you think that your computer
has a severe security problem. The text of these messages are:
System Defender
Your system has come under attack of
harmful software. Click here to deactivate it.
System Defender
External software tries to control variety of your system files. This may
lead to breaking of some data in your system. Click here to protect remote
access to your PC & delete these programs.
System Defender
Spyware.IEMonster process is found. The virus is going to send your passwords
from Internet browser (Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Outlook & others) to
the third-parties. Click here for further protection of your data with System Defender.
System Defender Firewall Alert
Suspicious activity in your registry system space was detected. Rogue malware
detected in your system. Data leaks and system damage are possible. Please
use a deep scan option.
System Defender Firewall Alert
System Defender has prevent a program from accessing the Internet.
"iexplore.exe" is infected with Trojan. This worm has tried to use
"iexplore.exe" to connect to remove host and send your credit card
information.
System Defender Firewall Alert
Your computer is being attacked from a remote machine!
Block Internet access to your computer to prevent system infection.
Attacker IP: <ip address>
Attack type: RCPT exploit
Just like the scan results, all of these warnings are fake and should be ignored.
As you can see, System Defender was created for one reason; to scare you
into thinking your computer is infected so that you will then purchase the program.
For no reason should you purchase System Defender, and if you already have,
you should contact your credit card company and dispute the charges stating
that the program is a computer infection. Finally, to remove this infection,
and related malware, please use the removal guide below.
Threat Classification:
Advanced information:
View System Defender files.
View System Defender Registry Information.
Tools Needed for this fix:
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [<random characters and numbers>] "C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe" "%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\<random characters and numbers>.avi", DllUnregisterServer
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [<random characters and numbers>] "C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe" "%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\<random characters and numbers>.avi", DllUnregisterServer
O4 - Startup: <random characters and numbers>.lnk = C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe
Guide Updates:
11/13/09 - Initial guide creation.
03/10/11 - Updated for new rogue with same name.
Automated Removal Instructions for System Defender using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
- Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is
open later in the fix.
- Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking. To
do this, turn your computer off and then back on and immediately when you
see anything on the screen, start tapping the F8 key on your
keyboard. Eventually you will be brought to a menu similar to the one below:
Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select Safe Mode with Networking
and press Enter on your keyboard. If you are having trouble
entering safe mode, then please use the following tutorial: How
to start Windows in Safe Mode
Windows will now boot into safe mode with networking and prompt you to login
as a user. Please login as the same user you were previously logged in with
in the normal Windows mode. Then proceed with the rest of the steps.
- It is possible that the infection you are trying to remove will not allow
you to download files on the infected computer. If this is the case, then
you will need to download the files requested in this guide on another computer
and then transfer them to the infected computer. You can transfer the files
via a CD/DVD, external drive, or USB flash drive.
- Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to
System Defender
so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, please
download RKill to your desktop from the following link.
RKill
Download Link - (Download page will open in a new tab or browser window.)
When at the download page, click on the Download Now button
labeled iExplore.exe download link. When you are prompted
where to save it, please save it on your desktop.
- Once it is downloaded, double-click on the iExplore.exe
icon in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with
System Defender
and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various
malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will
automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a
message that RKill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just
a fake warning given by
System Defender
when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into
these infections warnings that close RKill, a trick is to leave the warning
on the screen and then run RKill again. By not closing the warning, this typically
will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that RKill
can terminate
System Defender
. So, please try running RKill until the malware is no longer running. You
will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. Do not reboot
your computer after running RKill as the malware programs will start again.
If you continue having problems running RKill, you can download the other
renamed versions of RKill from the RKill
download page. Both of these files are renamed copies of RKill, which
you can try instead. Please note that the download page will open in a new
browser window or tab.
- Now you should download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following
location and save it to your desktop:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link
(Download page will open in a new window)
- Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including
this one.
- Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe.
This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
- 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. If MalwareBytes' prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
- 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.
- 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
System Defender
related files.
- 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.
- 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
System Defender
removal process.
- You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should
click on the Show Results button.
- 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.
- 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.
- You can now exit the MBAM program.
- As many rogues and other malware are installed through vulnerabilities found
in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use
Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer. A tutorial on
how to use Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs can be found here:
How to
detect vulnerable and out-dated programs using Secunia Personal Software Inspector
Your computer should now be free of the
System Defender
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 Using Malware Removal Tools and Requesting Help
Associated System Defender Files:
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\<random characters and numbers>_.mkv
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\<random characters and numbers>.dll
%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\<random characters and numbers>.ico
%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\<random characters and numbers>.lnk
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\System Defender.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\System Defender.lnk
%Temp%\<random characters and numbers>.dll
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\<random characters and numbers>.lnk
c:\Program Files\System Defender\
c:\Program Files\System Defender\System Defender.dll
File Location Notes:
%UserProfile% refers to the current user's profile folder. By default, this is C:\Documents and Settings\<Current User> for Windows 2000/XP, C:\Users\<Current User> for Windows Vista/7, and c:\winnt\profiles\<Current User> for Windows NT.
%Temp% refers to the Windows Temp folder. By default, this is C:\Windows\Temp for Windows 95/98/ME, C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\<Current User>\LOCAL SETTINGS\Temp for Windows 2000/XP, and C:\Users\<Current User>\AppData\Local\Temp for Windows Vista and Windows 7.
%AllUsersProfile% refers to the All Users Profile folder. By default, this is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users for Windows 2000/XP and C:\ProgramData\ for Windows Vista/7.
Associated System Defender Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "<random characters and numbers>"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "<random characters and numbers>"
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