Threat Database Rogue Anti-Spyware Program Windows Background Protector

Windows Background Protector

Threat Scorecard

Threat Level: 100 % (High)
Infected Computers: 12
First Seen: March 23, 2011
Last Seen: January 8, 2020
OS(es) Affected: Windows

Windows Background Protector Image

Yes, here we go again: Windows Background Protector is another re-release of the same malware that has been renamed daily for the past few months. Needless to say, Windows Background Protector is completely useless, and you should not trust Windows Background Protector with the security of your PC or your information.

The ironic thing about the name "Windows Background Protector" is that if you have this fake security software on your computer, Windows Background Protector does anything but operate discreetly in the background. Windows Background Protector causes symptoms that you will not be able to miss, because its goal is to scare you into thinking that your computer is loaded with malware that only a "licensed" version of Windows Background Protector can remove. In the process, Windows Background Protector will seriously disable your computer, and effectively hold it for ransom.

Symptoms Caused by Infection with Windows Background Protector

Windows Background Protector's activities fall into two categories: scare tactics to get you to pony up a credit card payment for nonexistent software, and self-preservation tactics to prevent you from deleting or removing Windows Background Protector. In terms of scare tactics, Windows Background Protector uses fake system scans and security alerts. The fake scans will run every time you start Windows, when Windows Background Protector loads its phony user interface and plays a little progress animation. These scans always turn up long lists of (fake) results, which Windows Background Protector will point to and claim that the detected threats can only be removed if you go to the Windows Background Protector website and purchase a software license. Not only do these fake scans show up before you get to see the taskbar or desktop, but you only will be able to get to the desktop if you wait through them.

The alerts that Windows Background Protector creates are similarly obnoxious. They appear very frequently, and they will warn that Firefox is keylogger malware and that the lsass.exe service is unstable and has caused a boot error, requiring the use of some kind of fictional backup. (Lsass.exe is a critical, and harmless, Windows component.) There's also a message about someone trying to tamper with your "register keys," which is a failed reference to either the Windows registry, or to software product keys, such as your Windows registration key. The dead giveaway with that one is that it's incomprehensible because of the botched, mangled English of the message. These messages are just meant to scare you, anyway, and they will remind you to go online and purchase a license for Windows Background Protector in order to deal with the threats that they claim to find. Obviously, because Windows Background Protector is incapable of doing anything beneficial or useful, you should not pay for a license for this fake anti-virus program.

In order to prevent you from removing it, Windows Background Protector will prevent you from running any other program except for your Internet browser, under the pretense that all of your other applications are security risks. Therefore, Windows Background Protector will not let you run Task Manager or Regedit – and, unfortunately, you can't take Windows Background Protector out using the Control Panel, either. Don't get your hopes up just because your Internet browser is available; Windows Background Protector will make sure that you can't go looking for help, by causing the browser to redirect you to its own malicious website or to a fake security warning, instead of taking you to whatever site you were trying to view.

How Windows Background Protector Installs Itself onto Your Computer?

Windows Background Protector uses a Trojan in order to install itself on victim PCs, and that Trojan relies on the user's inattentive or unsecured Internet usage in order to get in without being noticed. Typically, the Trojan used by Windows Background Protector is disguised as a program update or video codec update, offered for download on a third-party website. Fake Flash updates are a common method of infection, so, for example, it is important to only download those updates from the official Flash Player website. Alternatively, the Trojan may be the target of a malicious link, promoted in spam or in pop-up advertisements, and if you click on the link the Trojan takes advantage of vulnerabilities in your computer's settings in order to cause itself to be downloaded automatically.

The Trojan causes a bunch of fake security alerts to pop-up once it is downloaded, and because these alerts are made to be indistinguishable from Microsoft Security Essentials Alerts, the Trojan is referred to as the Fake Microsoft Security Essentials Alert Malware. Everything that this Trojan creates will say that it is coming from Windows itself, so that you don't question the alerts. The alerts follow the same pattern every time, of claiming to find unknown malware on your computer, then claiming to identify it, then offering a software download to remove the so-called threat. The software offered for download is, in this case, Windows Background Protector.

History of Windows Background Protector, and How You can Protect Yourself

As previously mentioned, Windows Background Protector is the name that this fake security application has been given today – but yesterday Windows Background Protector was released with a different one, and tomorrow Windows Background Protector will be released with another. Regardless of what this malware is called, Windows Background Protector is part of a huge Russian Internet scam, which has been ongoing for all of 2011. Aside from maintaining proper anti-virus software and using safe Internet browsing practices, you can watch out for other malware from the same scam as Windows Background Protector by keeping an eye out for certain kinds of fake security software names. These names always start with "Windows," and then include one or two words taken from lists, resulting in names that sound sort of like security software products, but which always seem a bit off. As always, remember that no matter what Windows Background Protector (or any of its clones) may tell you, it is not a Microsoft product or legitimate Windows program.ScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshotScreenshot

SpyHunter Detects & Remove Windows Background Protector

File System Details

Windows Background Protector may create the following file(s):
# File Name MD5 Detections
1. axvbkw.exe 33635a9e678e4f70a733fb60e63e7938 1

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