Spyware Fighter removal guide

Posted by Lawrence Abrams on March 12, 2009 @ 08:18 PM · Views: 5,184

 

What this infection does:

Spyware Fighter is a rogue anti-spyware program that is promoted through the use of the W32/FakeAlert.H.gen Trojan. Once infected, this Trojan will display alerts from your Windows taskbar stating that your computer is infected and that you should click the balloon alert in order to fix your computer. When you click on this alert, the Trojan will connect to the Spyware Fighter web site and download and install the program onto your computer. The current text of this alert is:

Danger! Your computer is infected!
The system is exposed to serious danger!
You may lose important data!
Antivirus software is not installed to garantee <sic> your safety
Click this baloon <sic> to fix the problem.

 

Spyware Fighter 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 Spyware Fighter is installed, it will automatically load and then perform a scan on your computer. When the scan is finished it will display numerous infections on your computer that cannot be removed unless you purchase the program. These infections, though, are all fake and are randomly selected from a list of 593 possible results that this program is scripted to show. That means that each time you run the program it will select another random selection of infections to show you. Some of the infections that it states it finds include:

Virus.VBS.Metaphase.B	Trojan.VBS.Envoy	Trojan.VBS.Fav	Trojan.VBS.First.G
Worm.VBS.Himeh	Trojan.VBS.Flames.A	JS.DropperAppl	Js.Exception.Gen
Adware.Searchbar	Trojan.Surila.J	Macro.Word.Daniel.b	Macro.Word.DMV
Dialer.StarDialer-2	Macro.Word.Doggie.a	Macro.Word.Helper.a	Trojan.VBS.Fav
Flooder.DoS.Siya	Trojan.VBS.First.G	Trojan.VBS.Flames.A	Trojan.VBS.Frekru.A

 

While the program is running you will also see further alerts stating that your computer is being attacked or that you have security risks. These alerts are just being used to further support Spyware Fighter's claim that you are infected. As the program is always running in the background, you may also find that your computer starts to become slower. To fix these problems and remove the infections, please follow the guide below to remove Spyware Fighter for free.

 

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

 

Advanced information:

View Spyware Fighter files.
View Spyware Fighter Registry Information.

 

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

 

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [534482859] C:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Local Settings\Application Data\1072948005.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [534482859] C:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Local Settings\Application Data\1072948005.exe
O4 - Startup: Spyware Fighter.lnk = C:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Local Settings\Application Data\1072948005.exe

 

Guide Updates:

03-12-09 - Initial guide creation.

 

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Automated Removal Instructions for Spyware Fighter 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 (Download page will open in a new window)
   
   


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 Spyware Fighter 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 SpywareFighter 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 SpywareFighter 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

 

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Associated Spyware Fighter Files:

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Spyware Fighter
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Spyware Fighter.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Spyware Fighter.lnk
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\1072948005.exe
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Spyware Fighter.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Spyware Fighter.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 Spyware Fighter Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SpyWare Fighter
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "534482859"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "534482859"