Posted by Lyndon | Posted in Tech Support | Posted on 29-05-2009
It seems quite a few friends have been caught out by a nasty piece of malware recently called “System Security”.
This piece of software is especially cunning as it looks very much a part of your Windows system, however is far from it…
There are many suggestions on how to get rid of it, the easiest being to install the free version of AVG anti-virus, which should remove it, however some people report that this doesn’t always work. Even if it doesn’t do the trick I can’t recommend AVG anti-virus strongly enough for home use, especially as it’s free!
If AVG doesn’t do the trick for you then it’s time to head over to Malwarebytes.org to download their Anti-Malware Tool, which is free for on-demand scanning.
Should you wish to manually remove Security System you will need to check for the following files, system processes and registry keys and remove them (72637123 is a random number – yours will probably be different):
- C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\72637123\72637123.exe
- C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\72637123\72637123.glu
- C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\72637123\pc72637123cnf
- C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\72637123\pc72637123ins
- C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Start Menu\Programs\System Security\System Security 2009 Support.lnk
- C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Start Menu\Programs\System Security\System Security 2009.lnk
- C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Desktop\System Security 2009.lnk
- C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\72637123
- C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Start Menu\Programs\System Security
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\72637123
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\systemsecurity2009
You should now be free from the dreaded System Security malware. The information provided above is given freely, for educational purposes and is not guaranteed in any way. If anyone should suffer permanent injury, death or data loss then it’s not my fault!
Good Luck!
UPDATE: You may need to enter safe mode to use the above tools, this can either be done by pressing the F8 key as the computer is booting up (before the Windows graphic appears) or by loading MSCONFIG.
To load MSCONFIG, click on Start, then Run and enter MSCONFIG, click OK.
Click on the BOOT.INI tab and click the checkbox next to /SAFEBOOT and click OK
When prompted, click on Restart.
DO NOT make any other changes in the MSCONFIG screens or you run the risk of damaging your PC further.
If in doubt, ask for help – I’m not that expensive 
