How to remove the SpywareKnight (Removal Instructions)

SpywareKnight is a rogue anti-spyware application that uses aggressive advertising, popups, and Internet Explorer start page hijacking. Popups will display alerts stating that you are infected with various malware including one called Win32.Trojan.Dropper.

If you start Internet Explorer your homepage will be about:blank and contain text stating that you are infected with Trojan.DLoader/LX and that you should install either Spyware Knight or SpySoldier to remove it. These popups and warnings are fake and are only being displayed to scare you into purchasing the commercial versions of SpywareKnight and SpySoldier. Needless to say, you should not purchase these programs.

Tools Needed for this fix:
SmitFraudFix.zip Symptoms in a HijackThis Log:O4 - Startup: spywareknight.lnk = C:\Program Files\SpywareKnight\spywareknight.exe

1. Next, please reboot your computer into Safe Mode by doing the following:
   a. Restart your computer
   b. After hearing your computer beep once during startup, but before the Windows icon appears, press F8.
   c. Instead of Windows loading as normal, a menu should appear
   d. Select the first option, to run Windows in Safe Mode.
   e. When you are at the logon prompt, log in as the same user which you had done the previous steps.
   f. When your computer has started in safe mode and you see the desktop.
   g. Click on the Start button and then select the Control Panel menu option.
   h. When the Control Panel opens double-click on the Add or Remove Programs icon.
   i. When the Add or Remove Programs window opens look for the SpywareKnight 1.2 entry and double-click on it. This will launch the uninstall program for SpywareKnight.
   j. When the uninstall programs has started click on the Yes button when it asks if you would like to uninstall the program. Then click on the OK button when it tells you the program has been successfully uninstalled to finish the uninstall..
   k. Close all open Windows.
   Now, double-click on the SmitFraudfix icon that should be residing on your desktop.The icon will look like the one below:

2. When the tool first starts you will see a credits screen. Simply press any key on your keyboard to get to the next screen.

3. You will now see a menu as shown in the image below. Press the number 2 on your keyboard and the press the enter key to choose the option Clean (safe mode recommended).

4. The program will start cleaning your computer and go through a series of cleanup processes. When it is done, it will automatically start the Disk Cleanup program as shown by the image below.

5. This program will remove all Temp, Temporary Internet Files, and other files that may be leftover files from this infection. This process can take up to a few hours depending on your computer, so please be patient.

6. When it is complete, it will close automatically and you will should continue with step 11.
When Disk Cleanup is finished, you will be presented with an option asking Do you want to clean the registry ? (y/n). At this screen you should press the Y button on your keyboard and then press the enter key.

7. When this last routine is finished, you will be presented with a red screen stating Computer will reboot now. Close all applications. You should now press the spacebar on your computer. A counter will appear stating that the computer will reboot in 15 seconds. Do not cancel this countdown and allow your computer to reboot.

8. Once the computer has rebooted, you will be presented with a Notepad screen containing a log of all the files removed from your computer. Examine this log, and when you are done, close the Notepad screen.Your computer should now be free of the SpywareKnight infection.

How to remove the SpywareKnight (Removal Instructions)

SpywareKnight is a rogue anti-spyware application that uses aggressive advertising, popups, and Internet Explorer start page hijacking. Popups will display alerts stating that you are infected with various malware including one called Win32.Trojan.Dropper.

If you start Internet Explorer your homepage will be about:blank and contain text stating that you are infected with Trojan.DLoader/LX and that you should install either Spyware Knight or SpySoldier to remove it. These popups and warnings are fake and are only being displayed to scare you into purchasing the commercial versions of SpywareKnight and SpySoldier. Needless to say, you should not purchase these programs.

Tools Needed for this fix:
SmitFraudFix.zip Symptoms in a HijackThis Log:O4 - Startup: spywareknight.lnk = C:\Program Files\SpywareKnight\spywareknight.exe

1. Next, please reboot your computer into Safe Mode by doing the following:
   a. Restart your computer
   b. After hearing your computer beep once during startup, but before the Windows icon appears, press F8.
   c. Instead of Windows loading as normal, a menu should appear
   d. Select the first option, to run Windows in Safe Mode.
   e. When you are at the logon prompt, log in as the same user which you had done the previous steps.
   f. When your computer has started in safe mode and you see the desktop.
   g. Click on the Start button and then select the Control Panel menu option.
   h. When the Control Panel opens double-click on the Add or Remove Programs icon.
   i. When the Add or Remove Programs window opens look for the SpywareKnight 1.2 entry and double-click on it. This will launch the uninstall program for SpywareKnight.
   j. When the uninstall programs has started click on the Yes button when it asks if you would like to uninstall the program. Then click on the OK button when it tells you the program has been successfully uninstalled to finish the uninstall..
   k. Close all open Windows.
   Now, double-click on the SmitFraudfix icon that should be residing on your desktop.The icon will look like the one below:

2. When the tool first starts you will see a credits screen. Simply press any key on your keyboard to get to the next screen.

3. You will now see a menu as shown in the image below. Press the number 2 on your keyboard and the press the enter key to choose the option Clean (safe mode recommended).

4. The program will start cleaning your computer and go through a series of cleanup processes. When it is done, it will automatically start the Disk Cleanup program as shown by the image below.

5. This program will remove all Temp, Temporary Internet Files, and other files that may be leftover files from this infection. This process can take up to a few hours depending on your computer, so please be patient.

6. When it is complete, it will close automatically and you will should continue with step 11.
When Disk Cleanup is finished, you will be presented with an option asking Do you want to clean the registry ? (y/n). At this screen you should press the Y button on your keyboard and then press the enter key.

7. When this last routine is finished, you will be presented with a red screen stating Computer will reboot now. Close all applications. You should now press the spacebar on your computer. A counter will appear stating that the computer will reboot in 15 seconds. Do not cancel this countdown and allow your computer to reboot.

8. Once the computer has rebooted, you will be presented with a Notepad screen containing a log of all the files removed from your computer. Examine this log, and when you are done, close the Notepad screen.Your computer should now be free of the SpywareKnight infection.

Removing unused device drivers from Windows XP machines

Did you know that unless you uninstall a device driver on a Windows XP machine that it still may be sucking up valuable system resources? Here are step-by-step instructions on how you can view and remove these unnecessary devices.

When you install a device driver on a Windows XP machine, the operating system loads that driver each time the computer boots regardless of whether the device is present—unless you specifically uninstall the driver. This means that drivers from devices that you have long since removed from your system may be wasting valuable system resources.

Follow these steps to view and remove these unnecessary device drivers:

1. Press [Windows]+[Break] to bring up the System Properties dialog box.
2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.
3. Click the New button below the System Variables panel.
4. In the New System Variable dialog box, type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices in the Variable Name text box and 1 in the Variable Value text box.
5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box and then click OK again.
6. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
7. In Device Manager, go to View Show Hidden Devices.
8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, which indicate unused device drivers.
9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall.

How to Fix "Click to Run an ActiveX Control on this webpage" Prompt

Are you receiving a windows prompt asking you to "click to run an ActiveX control on this webpage"? If so, here why you are receiving it and how to fix it.
The change was included in a recent Windows update because of a patent infringement lawsuit between Eolas Technologies and the Regents of the University of California v. Microsoft. Because of this lawsuit, Microsoft is changing the way Internet Explorer handles ActiveX controls. These changes will be in Internet Explorer 7. However, to allow developers a chance to change their code. The change was included in the April Security update (KB912812).
This is why you are receiving the following prompt when visiting some ActiveX web pages.

How to Correct this Problem
1) Download the following Compatibility Patch to revert the IE Active X Control Behavior
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=B7D9801B-4FB5-492E-903E-3400ABF1D731&displaylang=en

2) Install it and reboot your computer

3) Try the webpage you were receiving the prompt on
This should fix the issue for the time being, however when IE 7 is released this prompt will appear on web pages that have not changed the way they handle ActiveX components.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.....and Happy Birthday for me too

sorry for not to update this blogs, coz recently I'd just lost my laptop.....and still in the process of looking for the new one.

Best Regards

NEWS Update - Opera 9.1 released, adds real-time phishing protection

Opera has just released the latest upgrade to their critically-acclaimed web browser, version 9.1. While a .1 upgrade is not normally an event worthy of a news post, the new version adds an interesting and important feature: real-time phishing protection for web sites.

Phishing is rapidly becoming the malware of choice for the Internet's motley gang of spamming scammers. As it relies on social engineering rather than any technical vulnerability to do its dirty work , no amount of downloading security updates or switching operating systems can protect against it.

The automatic site checking tool makes loading new sites slightly slower, as it runs the site through the database, and for this reason it is turned off by default. However, even with the feature turned off, a black question mark icon appears on the right hand side of the address bar for every site. When clicked, this question mark allows the user to check the site manually, as well as turn on automatic checking for all future sites. When a site is verified as being safe, the black question mark turns into a black lower-case "i" to indicate that the site has been identified.

Even if the user turns off the automatic fraud protection, sites that have been previously verified as being safe will still display as such. Sites flagged as unsafe get a red warning label and a popup dialog box to inform the user.

The fraud protection has also been redesigned to prevent reverse cross-site request scams, such as the ones that recently affected MySpace and caused problems for both Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7.

Opera 9.1 also contains some non-phishing updates, such as fixes to the Windows Media plugin player, as well as several memory leak and crash fixes. It remains the fastest web browser in many speed comparisons and has many handy features such as the ability to put browser tabs on any side of the screen.