Remove Win Security 360 (Uninstall Guide)

Posted by Grinler on January 17, 2010 @ 10:08 AM · Views: 3,400

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What this infection does:

Win Security 360 is a rogue security program discovered by security researcher Bharath M Narayan. This program is promoted through the use of malware and online scams that pretend to be online anti-malware scanners. When the program is installed on your computer it will be configured to start automatically when Windows starts. Once started it will scan your computer and list a variety of infections, but will state it will not remove them unless you first purchase the program. In reality, the infections it detects are all legitimate programs that include cmd.exe, expand.exe, and mbam.exe. Therefore, please do not act upon any of the scan results it displays as you may delete a file that is required for Windows to operate properly.

Win Security 360 screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 6 images you can view.

While Win Security 360 is running it will also terminate legitimate programs that may be running. When it terminates these programs it will state that the program is infected and that it has crashed. The text of the alert is:

Application <program>.exe has crashed because of Conficker.Worm Virus.

Infected File: <path to process that is terminated>

Potential Risks: Viruses is spreading over your PC and the system status is unsafe. Your service provider may lock you out of internet access, because your PC is potentially harmful.

Viruse's actions: Steal your personal data and send it to the remote host. Spread between your friends quickly (via internet or storage drives). Send spam and malicious codes from your computer.

This alert will then prompt you to protect yourself from this supposed infection by purchasing the program. It goes without saying that you should definitely not purchase Win Security 360 as this is just a trick to make you think your program is infected.

Without a doubt, Win Security 360 was created with one purpose in mind; to scam you into thinking you are infected so that you will then purchase the program. As said previously, please do not purchase this program and if you already have, please contact your credit card company and dispute the charges. Last, but not least, to remove this infection and any related malware, please use the removal guide below.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Win Security 360 files.
View Win Security 360 Registry Information.

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - Startup: Win Security 360.lnk = C:\Program Files\WinSecurity360\WinSecurity360.exe

Guide Updates:

01/17/10 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Win Security 360 using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

1. Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to Win Security 360 so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, download the following file to your desktop.
   
   rkill.com Download Link
   
   
4. Once it is downloaded, double-click on the rkill.com in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Win Security 360 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 Win Security 360 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 Win Security 360 . 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. If you continue having problems running rkill.com, you can download iExplore.exe or eXplorer.exe, which are renamed copies of rkill.com, and try them instead.
   
   Do not reboot your computer after running rkill as the malware programs will start again.
   
   
5. 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)
   
   


6. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
   
   
7. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
   
   
8. 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.
   
   
9. 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.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. 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 Win Security 360 related files.
    
    
11. 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.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. 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 Win Security 360 removal process.
    
    
13. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
    
    
14. 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.
    
    
15. 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.
    
    
16. You can now exit the MBAM program.
    

Your computer should now be free of the Win Security 360 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 Win Security 360 Files:

%UserProfile%\Application Data\WinSecurity360
%UserProfile%\Application Data\WinSecurity360\vlc.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\WinSecurity360\WinSecurity360.ini
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Win Security 360.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win Security 360
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Win Security 360.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win Security 360\Website.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win Security 360\Win Security 360 Help.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win Security 360\Win Security 360.lnk
c:\Program Files\WinSecurity360
c:\Program Files\WinSecurity360\sk.lst
c:\Program Files\WinSecurity360\Win Security 360 Help.url
c:\Program Files\WinSecurity360\Win Security 360.url
c:\Program Files\WinSecurity360\WinSecurity360.exe

Associated Win Security 360 Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\WinSecurity360