Smart Fortress 2012 is a rogue anti-spyware program from the Rogue.WinWebSec family. This program is categorized as a rogue anti-spyware program because it pretends to be a legitimate security program, but is actually a program that purposely display false scan results, fake security alerts, and hijacks your computer so that you are not able to run your normal applications. Smart Fortress 2012 is installed onto a computer through other viruses, hacked websites that exploit vulnerable programs on your computer, or through fake online anti-malware scanners that prompt you to install the program. When Smart Protection is installed it will create a malware file in a random named folder in c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\, in XP, or C:\ProgramData, in Windows Vista and Windows 7. It will then be configured to start automatically when you login to your computer.
Once this rogue is started it will automatically pretend to scan your computer for viruses. When it has finished it will state that there are numerous infections on your computer, but will not allow you to remove any of them until you first purchase the program. The scan results for this program will not include any actual file names of the supposed infections, but rather just descriptions of the threat. It is important to understand that Smart Fortress 2012 was created for one reason; to scare you into thinking that your computer is severely infected so that you will then purchase the program. With that said, you should not be alarmed by any of the scan results that this program displays.
As a protection mechanism, Smart Fortress 2012 will change your Windows Registry so that any time you execute an application, it will terminate the application, state it is an infection, and then start the Smart Fortress 2012 program again. This makes it very hard to terminate the rogue as any time you start a program to assist you in removing it, the infection will just start again and terminate anything you are running. The message that you will see when it terminates a program is:
Warning!
Application cannot be executed. The file notepad.exe is infected.
Please activate your antivirus software.
This infection will also start when you run a program in the Window Safe Mode. This makes it even more difficult to remove this infection.
While Smart Fortress 2012 is running it will also display fake security alerts and warnings from your Windows taskbar. These alerts are designed to scare you into thinking that your computer is infected and that you should purchase the program to protect yourself. The text of these messages include:
Warning: Your computer is infected
Detected spyware infection!
Click this message to install the last update of security software...Security Monitor: WARNING!
Attention! System detected a potential hazard (TrojanSPM/LX) on your computer that may infect executable files. Your private information and PC safety is at risk.
To get rid of unwanted spyware and keep your computer safe you need to update your current security software.
Click Yes to download official intrusion detection system (IDS software).Smart Fortress 2012 Warning
Intercepting programs that may compromise your privacy and harm your system have been detected on your PC.
Click here to remove them immediately with Smart Fortress 2012
Just like the fake scan results, these security alerts are all false and should be ignored.
Without a doubt, this rogue was created for one reason; to scare you into thinking you are infected so that you will then purchase the program. It goes without saying that you should definitely not buy Smart Fortress 2012, and if you already have, please contact your credit card company and dispute the charges stating that the program is a scam and a computer virus. To remove Smart Fortress 2012 and other related malware, please use the free removal guide below.
Smart Fortress 2012 Removal Options
Self Help Guide
If you are uncomfortable making changes to your computer or following these steps, do not worry! Instead you can get free one-on-one help by asking in the forums.
- Print out these instructions as we will need to reboot your computer and you may not have access to your web browser for part of this process.
- As this infection can start before your normal Windows desktop appears, we first need to reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking. To
do this, turn your computer off and then back on and when you
see anything on the screen, immediately 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 user that is infected with
Smart Fortress 2012. When your Windows desktop appears, start right-click on the Internet Explorer, or your other browser of choice, and select Run As or Run as Administrator. If Windows prompts you for the Administrator password, please enter it and then Internet Explorer should launch. Now go to the follow page:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/fixexec/
When you get to the above page, click on the Download Renamed Version button and save the file to your C:\ drive.
Please note: If you are unable to login as Administrator, then you will need to download the file onto a USB flash drive or CDROM from a clean computer. Then in a later step we will copy them to the infected computer. Then proceed to Step 5.
- Once FixExec has been downloaded to your computer or is stored on a flash drive/CDROM, log off from the Administrator account, but stay in Safe Mode.
- You should now be at the Safe Mode logon prompt again. This time logon as your normal, but now infected, user.
- If you were not able to logon as Administrator and download the files, please copy the FixExec.com file that you stored on your USB flash drive and store them on your Windows desktop.
At this point, whether you downloaded them as Administrator or used a flash drive to copy them over, you should have the FixExec.com file located in your C:\ folder.
- If
Smart Fortress 2012
is running, just minimize it and any other programs so that you can see your desktop. Navigate to the C:\ folder and double-click on the FixExec.com program. Allow the program to run and when its done,
Smart Fortress 2012 should no longer be running and you can now launch your executables again. If you would like more information on what FixExec did on your computer, please read the FixExec.txt log on your desktop.
Note: If you received a message that FixExec was not able to extract a file, then please move the FixExec.com file to your Windows desktop and try again.
- This infection may change your Windows settings to use a proxy server that
will not allow you to browse any pages on the Internet with Internet Explorer
or update security software. Regardless of the web browser you use, for these
instructions we will first need need to fix this problem so that we can download
the utilities we need to remove this infection.
Please start Internet Explorer, and when the program is open, click on the Tools menu and then select Internet Options as shown in the image below.
- You should now be in the Internet Options screen as shown in the image below.
Now click on the Connections tab as designated by the blue arrow above.
- You will now be at the Connections tab as shown by the image below.
Now click on the Lan Settings button as designated by the blue arrow above.
- You will now be at the Local Area Network (LAN) settings screen as shown
by the image below.
Under the Proxy Server section, please uncheck the checkbox labeled Use a proxy server for your LAN. Then press the OK button to close this screen. Then press the OK button to close the Internet Options screen. Now that you have disabled the proxy server you will be able to browse the web again with Internet Explorer.
- At this point you should download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, or MBAM, to scan your computer for any any infections or adware that may be present. Please download Malwarebytes 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 mb3-setup-1878.1878-3.0.6.1469.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 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 start and you will be at the main screen as shown below.
Please click on the Scan Now button to start the scan. If there is an update available for Malwarebytes it will automatically download and install it before performing the scan.
- MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can
take quite a while, so we suggest you do something else and periodically
check on the status of the scan to see when it is finished.
- When MBAM is finished scanning it will display a screen that displays any malware that it has detected. Please note that the infections found may be different
than what is shown in the image below due to the guide being updated for newer versions of MBAM.
You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the seleted 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.
- You can now exit the MBAM program.
- Now reboot your computer back to normal mode.
- After rebooting if you are still unable to access the Internet, please confirm that your browser is not configured to use a proxy by following the instructions in steps 4-7. It is not required to perform these steps in Windows Safe Mode.
- 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 Smart Fortress 2012 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.
