Windows System Suite Removal

Today I came across another piece of spyware that is similar to "AntiVirus 2009" and "AntiVirus 360". It's called "Windows System Suite" and uses the Windows Defender icon as it's icon. The program, like the other two mention, makes the user believe that they are infected with dozens of spyware, viruses, and/or trojans and to pay this fee in order to remove the infected files.

I was able to remove the program by following the manual instructions from this website....http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-windows-system-suite.html. Like with the previous blog post, this one also encourages you to download a removal tool, however below that are the manual removal instructions. I prefer the manual removal method personally because often times the program they want you to download eventually costs you money to fix the problem.

Hope this helps!

UPDATE: While the instructions above were good, I continued to have problems with the computer. The command prompt wouldn't open, any virus protection software installed on the computer wouldn't open, Windows Defender wouldn't open, and other virus protection software would not install. I ran a McAfee Stinger to see if it had a virus (it did not), I ran Windows Updates to see if some hole needing patching (didn't fix problem), and I searched for hours on the Internet trying to find others who were having this problem (nothingwas found). The other strange thing is that the Windows Security Center (the thing that tells you if your Firewall, Windows Updates, & Virus Protection is on) was saying that the "Windows System Suite" was my antivirus protection. Was the stupid Windows System Suite still on this box? I dont think that it actually was. I think that the instructions that I followed did totally remove the malware program, however I was still having some problem.

After some time away, and talking with my boss, I tried a program he recommended (Malwarebytes) and also tried a program I remembered (Spybot - Search & Destroy). Both of these programs did actually open and ran fine. Both programs did find malware/spyware installed on the machine. Both programs did remove all found malware/spyware on the machine. However, it took running both of these programs to fully clean up the issues of programs not opening (ran both programs twice to make sure with a reboot in between - always a good idea).

NOTE: Unlike Virus Protection, it is a good idea to have multiple programs to fight malwware/spyware on your computer.

At this time I installed the AVG Anti-Virus program and ran it to check for viruses (none were found).

Even though the programs would now open, I still had problems with the Security Center showing multiple virus programs installed (both the AVG and the Windows System Suite). I could not figure it out, so again I took some time away from the box and finally figured out what terminolgy to use in my Internet search (more important than one might realize when searching) and came across how Windows stores the settings for the Security Center. Thanks to this forum post, which wasn't exactly my problem but close enough that it gave me the information that I needed, I found that when the following instructions were followed that my issues with multiple Virus protection showing up in Windows Security Center went away!!! :) YAY!!!

1. Click the start button and search on the word "CMD" - "CMD.exe" should appear.
2. In the command window at the prompt type each line and press Enter:
   
   net stop winmgmt
   cd c:\windows\system32\wbem
   ren repository repository.old
   net start winmgmt
   
3. Then, please restart the computer and check the result.

MAN this issue was HARD, but thanks to my boss and some Internet searching I was able to fix the problem without totally rebuilding the machine. :)

AntiVirus 2009 or 360

Several people I know have had a version of the SpyWare "AntiVirus" on their computer. The two main types that I have encountered lately is "AntiVirus 2009" and "AntiVirus 360."

While several websites have methods to remove this program from your computer, there are some manual instructions also out there on how to do it. This website, http://www.xp-vista.com/spyware-removal/antivirus-360-antivirus360-removal-instructions, is one that I found that I was pretty impressed with the information on the page that I wanted.

Notice how the website encouraged you to download and install a piece of software in order to fully remove the program? However in addition to this, the website also gave manual instructions on uninstalling the software. I would recommend that you follow the manual instructions. Usually those will do the trick. If they don't, I would personally recommend trying the following three free programs instead of downloading their product. All of the programs are free to home users, and the combination of the three work remarkably well.

Windows Defender - Yes I know that it's a windows product but in my experience it works pretty good.
SpyBot Search & Destroy - will ask you to donate money, but you don't have to if you don't want to. Haven't used this too much, but know from other people that it's a quality product.
Ad-Aware - also has versions that you can purchase but the free home version is good enough for me, so it should be good enough for you.

These three programs are also good to keep on your computer and run from time to time. You mind find that you have other malicious software/files on your computer that need to be cleaned off.

Finally before you call the computer clean, I would strongly recommend that you run a virus scan on your computer. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.

Hope this helps keep your computer clean, safe, and free from malicious software/files.