Windows Vista Blog

Related to the notorious rogue software known as Internet Security 2010, Security Essentials 2010 uses the same tactics as it’s relative to try and scare users into purchasing a software license. Security Essentials 2010 reaches a user’s system via Trojan viruses that get installed along with fake video codec packs. Once established on the user’s computer, this rogue software will perform a large number of fake scans on the system and tell the user that their computer is severely infected with malware. It will also generate fake pop-ups from the Windows taskbar warning the user of non-existent infections. Finally, Security Essentials 2010 will try to convince the user to purchase a license for the ‘full’ version of the software, claiming that the currently installed ‘trial’ version is insufficient to remove all the detected false ‘threats’. It is important to remember that the so-called ‘full’ version is just as unable to scan or clean your computer as the ‘trial’ version. Go here Security Essentials 2010 to learn more about this spyware.

Once you detect that a copy of this rogue software has established itself on your system, you should take immediate steps to delete it. In order to delete Security Essentials 2010, you must stop its processes, unregister its DLLs, delete its files and folders and remove its registry entries.

File Removal Procedures

The first step you need to take in order to delete Security Essentials 2010 is to kill the following processes:

• SE2010.exe
• 41.exe
• smss32.exe
• winlogon32.exe

The next step is to unregister the following DLL:

• helpers32.dll

To complete file removal, delete the following files and folders:

• c:\Program Files\Securityessentials2010\
• c:\Program Files\Securityessentials2010\SE2010.exe
• %UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Security essentials 2010.lnk
• %UserProfile%\Desktop\Security essentials 2010.lnk
• %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Security essentials 2010.lnk
• c:\WINDOWS\system32\41.exe
• c:\WINDOWS\system32\helpers32.dll
• c:\WINDOWS\system32\smss32.exe
• c:\WINDOWS\system32\warnings.html
• c:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon32.exe

Once these steps have been completed, your file system is safe from Security Essentials 2010. In order to make sure of this fact it is recommended to conduct a full system antivirus scan using genuine security software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus.

Registry Removal Procedures

After file removal has been done, you need to remove the following keys and settings from the Windows registry to completely delete Security Essentials 2010:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\buy-security-essentials.com
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\download-soft-package.com
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\download-software-package.com
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\get-key-se10.com
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\is-software-download.com
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SE2010
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\buy-security-essentials.com
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\get-key-se10.com
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop “NoChangingWallpaper” = “1″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer “NoActiveDesktopChanges” = “1″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer “NoSetActiveDesktop” = “1″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System “DisableTaskMgr” = “1″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “Security essentials 2010″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “smss32.exe”
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\ActiveDesktop “NoChangingWallpaper” = “1″
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer “NoActiveDesktopChanges” = “1″
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer “NoSetActiveDesktop” = “1″
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “smss32.exe”

Once these steps have been completed, your computer is completely safe from Security Essentials 2010. Even if in most cases this is enough to delete Security Essential 2010 a full system scan using genuine antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus is still to be considered

Conclusion

It is not recommended for inexperienced users to try and delete Security Essentials 2010 manually, as any wrong move could cause damage to the system. Therefore, inexperienced users should make use of a web-based malware scanner/cleaner such as www.onlinecomputerrepair.org or legitimate antivirus software to safely delete Security Essentials 2010.