Remove User Protection (Uninstall Guide)
Posted by Lawrence Abrams on March 19, 2010 @ 04:19 PM · Views: 16,203
What this infection does:
User Protection is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same
family as Paladin
Antivirus. This rogue is promoted and installed through the use of malware
that automatically downloads and installs it onto your computer without your
consent or knowledge. Once downloaded and installed, User Protection will scan
your computer for certain legitimate anti-virus programs that may be installed
on your computer. If they are detected, Use Protection will state they are infections
and prompt you to uninstall them. It does this in order to protect itself from
the legitimate programs that may flag User Protection as an infection. The anti-malware
programs that it tries to uninstall include:
- F-Secure
- NOD32
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- Norton Internet Security
- Avira AntiVir
- AVG8
- AntiVir
- Agnitum Outpost Security Suite
- avast!
User Protection will then start and begin to scan your computer for infections.
Once the scan has finished it will state that there are numerous infections
on your computer, but will not allow you to remove them until you purchase the
program. The infections it finds, though, either do not exist or are legitimate
programs on your computer, which if you remove , may affect the proper operation
of the computer. Therefore, please do not attempt to manually remove any of
the files it states are infections as you may accidentally delete a legitimate
Windows file.
User Protection screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 8 images you can view.
User Protection will also display fake security alerts and warnings on your
computer in order to try and trick you into thinking that you are infected.
These alerts will state that your computer is under attack from a remote pc
and that keyloggers or malware have been detected. Some examples of the alerts
you may see include:
Antivirus Alert - Critical threat detected
Warning: Network attack detected
Network attack has been detected. Process is attempting to access your private
data.
Your computer is being attacked from a remote PC.
Process is trying to steal your passwords listed below. It is highly recommended
to block this threat now.
User's activity loggers detected!
It's strongly recommended to remove detected threats right now!
Zlob.Porn.Ad adware has been detected. This adware
module advertises websites with explicit content. Be advised of such content
being possibly illegal. Please click the button below to locate and remove
this threat now.
Most of the viruses and worms on your PC because of
visiting pornosites or warez/torrent sites.
ANTIVIRUS IS RUN IN DEMO MODE. ACTIVATE YOUR ANTIVIRUS
OTHERWISE ALL THE DATA WILL BE LOST OR DAMAGED!
DANGEROUS! ANTIVIRUS DETECTED SOME HARMFUL PROGRAMS
ON YOUR PC! THEY MAY CORRUPT YOUR INFORMATION OR SEND IT TO HACKERS.
User Protection will also randomly state that programs you run on your computer
are infected. When you attempt to run programs it will display an alert and
state that a virus has been detected. The alerts you will see is:
Warning! Virus threat detected!
Virus activity detected!
Trojan-Clicker.Win32 adware has been detected. This adware module advertises
websites with explicit content. Be advised of such content being possibly
illegal. Please click the button below to locate and remove this threat now.
Just like the fake scan results, all of these fake alerts are just another
tactic where User Protection is trying to convince you that you have a security
problem on your computer and should be ignored.
As you can see, User Protection was created to trick you into thinking you are infected
so that you will then purchase the program. It goes without saying that you
should definitely not purchase this program, and if you already have, please
contact your credit card company to dispute the charges. To remove this infection
and any related malware, please use the removal guide below.
Threat Classification:
Advanced information:
View User Protection files.
View User Protection Registry Information.
Entries for this program found in the Add or Remove Programs control panel:
User Protection
Tools Needed for this fix:
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [User Protection] "C:\Program Files\User Protection\usrprot.exe" -noscan
Guide Updates:
03/19/10 - Initial guide creation.
Automated Removal Instructions for User Protection using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
- Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is
open later in the fix.
- Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to
User Protection
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
User Protection
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
User Protection
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
User Protection
. 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 and is at the last screen, make
sure you uncheck both of the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware check
boxes. Then click on the Finish button. If Malwarebytes'
prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
If you receive a code 2 error while installing Malwarebytes's, please press
the OK button to close these errors as we will resolve them
in future steps. The code 2 error will look similar to the image below.
- As this infection deletes a core executable of Malwarebytes' we will need
to download a new copy of it and put it in the C:\program files\Malwarebytes'
Anti-Malware\ folder. To download the file please click on the following
link:
Malwarebytes'
EXE Download
When your browser prompts you where to save it to, please save it to the C:\program
files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder. When downloading the file,
it will have a random filename. Please leave the filename the way it is as
it is important that it is not changed. You may want to write down the name
of the file as you will need to know the name in the next step.
- Once the file has been downloaded, open the C:\program files\Malwarebytes'
Anti-Malware\ folder and double-click on the file you downloaded
in step 8. MBAM will now start and you will be at the main program screen
as shown below.
- Before you can perform a scan, you must first update the program. To do
this click on the Update tab, and that at the new screen
click on the Check for Updates button. Malwarebytes' will
now check for new updates and download and install them as necessary. When
the update is completed, you will be prompted with a message stating either
that you already have the latest updates or that they have been updated. Either
way, you should now click on the OK button to continue.
- Now click on the Scanner tab and make sure the the Perform
full scan option is selected. Then click on the Scan
button to start scanning your computer for
User Protection
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
UserProtection
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.
- Due to the fact that this infection deletes certain MalwareBytes' files,
and we had to work around this, if you wish to continue using MalwareBytes'
Anti-Malware, which we suggest you do, then you should uninstall and then
install it again so that the files are created properly.
- 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
UserProtection
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 User Protection Files:
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\fiosejgfse.dll
c:\Program Files\User Protection
c:\Program Files\User Protection\about.ico
c:\Program Files\User Protection\activate.ico
c:\Program Files\User Protection\buy.ico
c:\Program Files\User Protection\help.ico
c:\Program Files\User Protection\scan.ico
c:\Program Files\User Protection\settings.ico
c:\Program Files\User Protection\splash.mp3
c:\Program Files\User Protection\uninstall.exe
c:\Program Files\User Protection\update.ico
c:\Program Files\User Protection\usr.db
c:\Program Files\User Protection\usrext.dll
c:\Program Files\User Protection\usrhook.dll
c:\Program Files\User Protection\usrprot.exe
c:\Program Files\User Protection\virus.mp3
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Protection.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\User Protection Support.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\User Protection.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\usrprot.exe.txt
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\4otjesjty.mof
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\usr.dat
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\usrr.dat
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\About.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\Activate.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\Buy.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\Scan.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\Settings.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\Update.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\User Protection Support.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\User Protection\User Protection.lnk
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.
Associated User Protection Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{5E2121EE-0300-11D4-8D3B-444553540000}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\User Protection
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\User Protection
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "User Protection"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved "{5E2121EE-0300-11D4-8D3B-444553540000}"
RSS
