Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009, XP Antivirus 2008, & Others Infect Winlogon

By ZulaZuza in Computer Security

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Do you have Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009, Vista Antivirus 2008, Windows Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2008 Pro, XP Antivirus 2008, Antivirus XP 2008, XP Antivirus 2009, XPAntiVirus, or any other Antivirus-named program variation that you did not consensually agree to download on your machine?

In the past few weeks, we've had a high percentage of SpyHunter customers that have experienced trojan infections related to the Antivirus 2008 trojan family. These trojan infections have the ability to infect the System File winlogon.exe and be able to execute drive-by downloads of rogue anti-spyware programs like Antivirus 2008 onto the computer. Winlogon.exe is a crucial file for Windows' operation so once it's infected, it makes an automated removal process with a real anti-spyware progam nearly impossible to do.

Most of our customers who tried to use patches or fixes found on the Web to remove the problem had their system practically destroyed. However, our Technical Support team is now able to create a custom fix related to this unique case of Antivirus 2008 trojan family infections, which will completely clean the computer without any data or application loss. Some variations of Antivirus 2008 trojan family demand a complicated removal process which involves several layers of removal, patience, and some human effort from the computer user. ESG’s Technical Support team is capable of helping you every step of the way to remove the trojan infection and prevent it from reappearing on your computer.

Like cancer there are stages related to an infection such as the Antivirus 2008 trojan family. Not every variation of Antivirus 2008 infects the Winlogon part of the system or demands great effort to be removed. Most SpyHunter customers have experienced variants of Antivirus 2008 without it infecting the Winlogon and they have successfully used SpyHunter to automatically remove Antivirus 2008 and its variants. Many customers can do an automated removal but others with unique Antivirus 2008 infections have to resort to our Technical Support team for a personal custom fix.

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Why is Antivirus 2008 Trojan Family Difficult to Remove?

As the Antivirus 2008 trojan family increases, computer users, as well as our customers, find themselves having to deal with the constant battle of figuring out how to remove them from their computer.

Antivirus 2008, XP Antivirus and its variants are hard-to-remove applications because of trojans like Zlob, Vundo, and other Trojan.Downloader variations that either hide files in the System32 or generate morphic files to escape detection from legitimate security softwares. These trojans perform several malicious functions such as disabling basic functions of the system like the Task Manager and the Display Properties, changing desktop background, locking homepage, downloading unwanted files in stealth, stealing passwords and credit card information, overwriting admin privileges, displaying pop up ads, and more.

Mostly, the trojan variations' lock users out of their computers and has several rogue anti-spyware programs appear in a continous loop. Because of the malicious actions that the trojan infection causes to a computer, users end up buying the rogue anti-spyware program to fix the infection, which actually fixes the infection for a short period of time. However, the rogue anti-spyware program continues to add new files in the system and, a few days later, it reloads the computer with a different infection and the user ends up locked in an infinite cycle of infections.

Antivirus 2008 Trojan Family Symptoms

The following symptoms take place after the presence Antivirus 2008 trojan family:

The Trojan infections will hide the C: Drive icon located in the "My Computer" window. Tip: To be able to see your C: Drive, open a browser and type "C:\" or "My Computer".
"VIRUS ALERT!" appears in the system tray (lower right hand corner of your desktop).
Changes your desktop background to a red hazard alert or a blue background with a yellow alert in the center.
Screensaver changes to either the 'Blue Screen of Death' or the "Bugs" crawling on the screen.
Start Menu does not list 'Programs', 'My Documents', 'My Computer', 'My Recent Documents', 'Search', 'Help','Control Panel' or 'Run'.
Pop ups of random rogue anti-spyware programs. The pop-ups displayed are for rogue anti-spyware programs like Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009, Antivirus XP 2009, XP Antivirus Protection, Spy-Shredder, WinSpywareProtect, and others.
Windows explorer closes by itself or displays an "Illegal Operation of System" page.
Computer performs sluggish or it ultimately crashes.

Our Threat Research and Technical Support team are in the mist of finding an automatic solution for customers who have trojan infections (related to Antivirus 2008 trojan family) affecting the Winlogon. If you're experiencing problems with Anvitirus 2008 trojan family and, in some cases, SpyHunter is not able to automatically remove it, it is advised that customers with those symptoms should log onto Enigma's website member section and contact our Technical Support team.