Windows Vista Blog

Control Center is a rogue program that tries to trick users into purchasing a software license. It reaches the user’s computer via Trojans that get downloaded from malicious websites which promote fake security scanners and along with fake video codec packs. Once installed, Control Center disables all security applications already installed on the system. It then performs fake security scans on the system, returning false results that claim that the computer is severely infected with malicious software. Control Center also displays a large number of fake pop-ups from the Windows taskbar, which warn the user of potential ‘threats’ to the computer. Meanwhile, Control Center constantly requests the user to purchase the ‘full’ version of the software, claiming that the currently installed ‘trial’ version of Control Center is insufficient to completely clean the system. It is important to remember that Control Center is merely a fake application which cannot scan your system in any form, be it the ‘trial’ version or the ‘full’ version. For more detailed information check out this Control Center removal

As soon as you find a copy of this malicious program on your system, you should take steps to immediately remove Control Center. For Control Center removal, it is necessary to stop processes, delete files and folders and remove registry entries.

File Removal Procedures

The first step in Control Center removal is to kill the following processes:

• cc.exe
• uninstall.exe

The next step on Control Center removal is to delete the following files and folders:

• C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Application Data\CC
• C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Application Data\CC\faq
• C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Application Data\CC\faq\images
• cc.exe
• uninstall.exe
• settings.ini
• guide.html
• Control center.lnk

Once these steps have been completed, Control Center no longer resides on your hard disk. Due to the fact that this type of software is usually installed by auxiliary malware it is recommended to conduct a complete system scan using genuine antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus.

Registry Removal Procedures

Removing files and folders is not enough to ensure complete Control Center removal. To completely remove Control Center, you need to delete the following keys and settings from the Windows registry:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Control center
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon “C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Application Data\CC\cc.exe”

Now it is prudent to state that your computer is completely safe from Control Center.

Conclusion

Manual Control Center removal is not recommended for inexperienced users as any mistake made during removal could cause damage to the operating system. Therefore inexperienced users are advised to use a web-based scanning/cleaning service such as www.onlinecomputerrepair.org or legitimate antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus for successful Control Center removal.