Windows Vista Blog

Digital Protection is a rogue anti-spyware application that uses the same methods as its relatives User Protection and Your Protection to try and convince users to purchase a software license. Digital Protection reaches a user’s computer via Trojan viruses that gets downloaded from dangerous websites promoting fake scanners. Once installed, Digital Protection loads itself at startup and performs a large number of fake system scans, returning results showing that the computer is badly infected with malware. It also generates fake warning pop-ups from the Windows taskbar which claim that the computer is at risk. The GUI of Digital Protection closely resembles that of Windows Security Center, which further adds to the illusion that this is a legitimate program. Digital Protection repeatedly requests the user to purchase a license to the ‘full’ version of the software, claiming that the currently installed ‘trial’ version is incapable of cleaning out the detected ‘threats’. It is important to remember that Digital Protection is a fake application and therefore none of its versions can properly scan or clean your system. For more detailed information check out this Digital Protection removal guide.

It is important to delete Digital Protection as soon as you find a copy on your computer. Digital Protection removal involves the stopping of processes, unregistering of DLLs, deletion of files and folders and removal of registry entries.

File Removal Procedures

The first step in Digital Protection removal is to kill the following processes:

• [random name].exe
• avp.exe
• digprot.exe

The next step in Digital Protection removal is to unregister the following DLL files:

• %WINDOWS%\System32\zq5e7t.dll
• %WINDOWS%\System32\vurrozj.dll

Next, it is necessary to delete the following files and folders:

• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Desktop\Digital Protection Support.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Desktop\Digital Protection.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\About.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\Activate.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\Buy.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\Digital Protection Support.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\Digital Protection.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\Scan.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\Settings.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Start Menu\Programs\Digital Protection\Update.lnk
• %Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Digital Protection.lnk
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\about.ico
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\activate.ico
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\buy.ico
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\digprot.exe
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\help.ico
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\scan.ico
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\settings.ico
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\splash.mp3
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\uninstall.exe
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\update.ico
• %Program Files%\Digital Protection\virus.mp3
• %WINDOWS%\System32\zq5e7t.dll
• %WINDOWS%\System32\vurrozj.dll
• %WINDOWS%\Temp\avp.exe
• %WINDOWS%\Temp\[random name].exe

Now it is safe to say that Digital Protection no longer exists on your hard disk. In order to make sure that no other malware is installed it is recommended to scan the entire PC using genuine antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus.

Registry Removal Procedures

File removal alone is not sufficient to completely remove Digital Protection. It is necessary to delete the following keys and settings from the registry as well to ensure complete Digital Protection removal:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Digital Protection
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Digital Protection
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “digprot.exe”
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “avp.exe”
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System “DisableTaskMgr” = “1?

Once these steps have been completed, you have successfully removed Digital Protection from your system.

Conclusion

Manual Digital Protection removal is not recommended for inexperienced users, as any wrong move made on your part could cause damage to your system. Inexperienced users are advised to make use of a legitimate virus guard application such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus or a web-based repair service such as www.onlinecomputerrepair.org to safely and efficiently remove Digital Protection.