Which Kmspico Site Is Real

[Jennifer Leos]

Wellas you may have read from the title my computer have been infected by the KMSpico malware and consequently, dozens of trojans, viruses, etc. have been installed. The reason why I installed KMSpico is quite obvious... so let's skip that part, I've already learned my lesson.

What I'd like to know is if you could guide me on how to make sure my machine is indeed completely clean from all the trash that was installed, e.g. cryptocurrency miners, adware, browser hijackers, and other potentially unwanted programs.

My name is Aura and I'll be assisting you with your malware issue. Since we'll be working together, you can call me Aura or Yoan, which is my real name, it's up to you! Now that we've broke the ice, I'll just ask you a few things during the time we'll be working together to clean your system and get it back to an operational state.

What do you think? I ran many analysis with different anti-malware programs, anti-rootkite scanner, etc etc. It seems pretty clean, but then again I'm quite a newbie on this matter, anything else I should look for by myself?

My system seems to work as good as it was working before I installed KMSpico so I think I'm safe now, although I'll probably consider to clean and pave (format and reinstall) in the near future, as you mentioned before. I guess I used all the tools available to me to clean it as deep as possible, and if you have any other suggestion please tell me.

I'd like to ask you if in case you know what's the purpose of a .crusader (CRUSADER FILE) in the System32 folder. I'm asking you this because I noticed that the last date modified was today at 13:48 which it was around an hour later I've got infected. Perhaps it has to be there, I was just wondering.

Since there are no signs of infection anymore in your logs, and you just told me that there are no more issues left to address, I guess we're done here. We'll wrap it up by running DelFix to delete the tools and logs that were used in this clean-up.

Now it's time to give you some tips, tricks, advice and recommendations on how to protect your system and prevent you from being infected in the future. This is where I'll explain basic security measures that you should take to protect and harden your system, and also make sure it stays as safe and secure as possible against hackers and malware. You are free to ignore the recommendations listed below, although I obviously do not recommend it. If you have any questions about one of the points covered in the speech below, feel free to ask me your questions here directly so I can answer them and guide you.

Keeping Windows up to date is one of the first steps in having a safe and secure system. The Security Updates that Windows receives are meant to fix exploits and flaws in it that makes it more secure and not exploitable by hackers. In order to do that, you should always install the Security Updates, known as "Important Updates" on your Windows system. These updates are released on the second Tuesday of every month, but some are also released before if they are emergency/critical Security Updates. Let's make sure that you have all your Important Updates and Recommended Updates installed and that your Windows Updates are set to be installed automatically.

Like keeping Windows updated, keeping your installed programs up-to-date is another important step in having a safe and secure system. Outdated programs can be exploited by hackers and malware to infect a system and take it over. This is especially true today with the rise of Exploit Kits (and also 0-days) which is one of the biggest attack vectors to distribute malware. Therefore, you should always keep vulnerable programs like Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave Player, Java, Silverlight, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, VLC Media Player, etc. updated to their most recent version (even better, you don't have to install them if you don't use them). Programs like UCheck, SUMo and Heimdal Free will scan your system for outdated programs, and help you identify them, as well as update them.

Note: The programs listed below are all free to use or they have some sort of trial. Some of them have a paid version that provides more features, while a lot of other good programs only have a paid version but aren't listed there (such as Kaspersky and ESET Antivirus products).

Having a decent security setup (which also includes an Antivirus) is the most crucial step to protect a system. These programs are additional layers of defence that will prevent a system from being infected, or if it somehow ends up infected, help mitigate the infection and remediate it. Fortunately, the new Malwarebytes 3 bundle all these layers in one, easy to use and efficient product. Malwarebytes 3 offers Malware, Web, Exploit and Ransomware protection modules that works together in order to keep your system protected and stop an infection at multiple level.

Note: Please note that only the Premium version of Malwarebytes 3 offers real-time protection (Malware, Web, Exploit and Ransomware). The free version only allows you to scan your system for threats and remove them.

Starting in Windows Vista, the Windows Firewall greatly improved and will satisfy the needs of most users. If you do not have an Internet Suite Antivirus program (which includes a firewall) and you want to use a 3rd party firewall, you can consider the options below.

Web Browsers could be considered as the closest door between a malware and your system. This is where most malware goes through to infect a system, and therefore it should be the program(s) you want to secure the most. There are two ways of going about it: hardening your web browser via extensions, and having good browsing habits.

Hardening your web browser means to install extensions that will help it protect itself (and your system on the same occasion) against Exploit Kits, MiTM attacks, etc. but also you at the same time. Here are a few extensions that I recommend you to install.

As for safe browsing habits, you can find tons of guides, tutorials, articles, etc. online that will highlight the basics you need to follow (only visit websites you trust, do not click on ads, do not download files from untrusted sources, use a password manager, always verify the URL of a website and make sure it's correctly typed, etc.), and even what you can do if you want to take it a step further (create a fake email address for spam emails, browse the web in a privacy mode, etc.). Here are a few:

Even if you follow every recommendation that I listed here, in the end, it's also your job to be careful when browsing the web and downloading files if you don't want to get infected. Therefore, if you use your brain (common sense) when browsing the web, downloading programs and files, etc., you have far less chances to get infected by a malware. If for example you're not sure if a website is legitimate or not, or if a file is safe to download and execute, or if a program looks "too good" to be free, I suggest you to avoid going to that website, downloading that file or using that program.

Here are a few guides, tutorials, articles, etc. that you could read in order to learn more about computer protection and security to improve your current computer protection setup but also improve your good web browsing and computer usage practices :

And that's it! Now that you know more about how to protect your computer and secure it, you're good to go back to your online activities, but in a safe and secure way! You are also free to stay on the forums and ask for help in different topics if you ever need to. Just make sure that you post your question/issue in the right section to get the best assistance possible. And if you ever get infected again (which I hope you wont!), you can always comeback in this section to get another checkup with one of our trained malware removal member.

Developed by cyber criminals, KMSPico is a tool that allows users to activate their Windows Operating Systems free of charge. KMS (Key Management System) is essentially technology that allows activation of certain services via a local network.

KMS allows activation without connecting to Microsoft servers and is typically used by companies that have many computers connected to a local network/server. KMSPico bypasses the entire process and simply replaces the existing key with a new one. By generating a new key, the KMSPico tool postpones Windows activation (typically for 180 days).

KMSPico is not a legitimate tool and is developed by cyber criminals, rather than the Microsoft corporation. Therefore, using this tool violates Windows Operating System terms and conditions. In addition, it is often distributed by dubious websites containing malicious content. These sites present infectious executables as KMSPico.

Although they claim that the tool is virus-free, this is a dubious claim - requests to disable anti-spyware suites indicate potential distribution of malware. For these reasons, the KMSPico tool should never be used. Windows and MS Office should be activated only with genuine keys provided by Microsoft.

As mentioned above, malicious websites often proliferate malware. There are many potential infections - cryptocurrency miners, adware, browser hijackers, and other potentially unwanted applications (PUAs). Malicious cryptcurrency miners essentially misuse system resources to mine cryptocurrencies without users' consent.

The presence of such applications significantly reduces system performance. For more information on dubious cryptocurrency miners, click here. Adware-type applications are essentially designed to deliver intrusive advertisements (coupons, banners, pop-ups, and and so on).

To achieve this, adware developers employ tools that enable placement of third party graphical content on any site. Therefore, the ads often conceal visited website content, thereby significantly diminishing the browsing experience. In addition, intrusive advertisements often redirect to malicious websites, execute scripts that download/install malware.

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