Software Protector is a fake anti-spyware program that belongs to the same family of rogue programs that includes Virus Protector. Software Protector gets installed on a user’s system via Trojan viruses that get downloaded from websites with fake scanners and from spam email attachments. Once installed, this rogue program loads itself at user logon and disables essential Windows services such as Task Manager and Registry Editor. It then performs a large number of fake scans on the system, which return results that state that the computer is heavily infected with non-existent malware. Software Protector will also display fake pop-up warnings from the Windows taskbar trying to warn the user that the system is under threat. This slows down the operating system considerably. Meanwhile, Software Protector tries to convince the user to pay for the ‘full’ version of the software by claiming that the currently installed ‘trial’ version is incapable of removing the detected false ‘threats’. However, it should be remembered that the so-called ‘full’ version of Software Protector is just as ineffective as the ‘trial’ version when it comes to cleaning any user’s system.
Software Protector
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It is important to delete Software Protector as soon as you find a copy on your computer. Software Protector removal involves the deletion of files and folders and removal of registry entries.
Software Protector Manual Removal Procedures
The first step you must take in order to remove Software Protector is to delete the following files and folders:
Windows XP:
- %Documents and Settings%\{UserName}\Application Data\{random}.exe
- %Documents and Settings%\{UserName}\Application Data\{random}.dll
- %Documents and Settings%\{UserName}\Local Settings\Temp\{random}.exe
- %Documents and Settings%\{UserName}\Local Settings\Temp\{random}.dll
- %Program Files%\Internet Explorer\{random}.exe
- %Program Files%\Internet Explorer\{random}.dll
- %WINDOWS%\{random}.exe
- %WINDOWS%\{random}.dll
- %WINDOWS%\system32\{random}.exe
- %WINDOWS%\system32\{random}.dll
- %WINDOWS%\system32\drivers\{random}.exe
- %WINDOWS%\system32\drivers\{random}.dll
Windows Vista/7:
- %Users%\{UserName}\AppData\{random}.exe
- %Users%\{UserName}\AppData\{random}.dll
- %Users%\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Temp\{random}.exe
- %Users%\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Temp\{random}.dll
- %Program Files%\Internet Explorer\{random}.exe
- %Program Files%\Internet Explorer\{random}.dll
- %WINDOWS%\{random}.exe
- %WINDOWS%\{random}.dll
- %WINDOWS%\system32\{random}.exe
- %WINDOWS%\system32\{random}.dll
- %WINDOWS%\system32\drivers\{random}.exe
- %WINDOWS%\system32\drivers\{random}.dll
Software Protector Registry Removal Proedures
File removal alone is not sufficient to completely remove Software Protector. It is necessary to delete the following keys and settings from the registry as well:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “Software Protector”
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows “LoadAppInit_DLLs” = “1″
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows “AppInit_DLLs” = “{random}.dll”
Once the above steps are complete, you have successfully completed the process of Software Protector removal.
Software Protector Directories:
- None. You should be able to just follow the file paths listed above to remove the Software Protector files.
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