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How to remove ThinkSmart rogue anti-spyware

Malware Description:
The program known as ThinkSmart (alias: Think Smart) totally paralyzes your computer if it manages to intrude. ThinkSmart is a follower of the extremely nasty rogue antivirus tool called ThinkPoint that has been literally devastating the cyber world within the last few weeks. Since it’s now turn for ThinkSmart to say its dangerous ‘Hello’ to the world, please beware of this application and remove it immediately if its presence gets spotted. ThinkSmart is clever enough to do without your approval when infiltrating your machine. One of the methods employed by this malware for PC trespassing is the nefarious fake Microsoft Security Essentials Alert that gets displayed on computers infected by a corresponding trojan virus. This bogus notification states you got some security vulnerabilities and threats on your workstation and also recommends you choose your protection software from a list. And there it goes – its ‘majesty’ ThinkSmart, being probably the only solution available on the scam list suggested. Once on your computer, ThinkSmart adjusts your system to what it’s going to be doing shortly. It modifies your System Registry and creates some of its own files under Application Data and User Profile directories. The preliminary analysis of ours has shown that ThinkSmart is exploiting the same executable as its forerunner, i.e. the Hotfix.exe process. When it’s running on your machine, you are going to have some hard time even getting to your desktop due to the malicious impudent interference. So what does ThinkSmart want from you? It reports lots of infections found inside your Operating System to scare you and eventually make you buy its licensed copy in order to get your computer protected. Of course there will be absolutely no assistance coming from this sham software. ThinkSmart is a fake tool, please keep that in mind. It’s interesting that this rogueware usually prevents you from even logging in to your system as you usually do. It displays its own screen right after startup, without you being able to get to your desktop and do something about this malware. So in order to get rid of this scareware, you need to do the following. Restart your PC and when or before ThinkSmart GUI appears, keep hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del to access the Task Manager. Perhaps it won’t work from the first time so you should keep trying. When Task Manager window appears, go to ‘Processes’ tab and find the ‘Hotfixe.exe’, ‘Defender.exe’ or ‘Antispy.exe’ process. Click on this one and press ‘End Process’ at the bottom. That being done, please keep Task Manager open and go to ‘File’, select ‘New Task (Run)’ option and type in explorer.exe; then hit Ok. You should now see your desktop and proceed with ThinkSmart removal instructions provided below this description. Alternatively, you can try to follow our tips in Safe Mode which is accessible via F8 key which you should press during PC startup.

Malware Type: Rogue Anti-Spyware

Malware Author: Unknown

Threat Level: Critical

Advice: Immediately remove and scan for additional malware

ThinkSmart Free Scanner and Remover: Download Now

ThinkSmart Screenshot:

How to remove ThinkSmart manually:
Manual removal of ThinkSmart is a feasible objective if you have sufficient expertise in dealing with program files, processes, .dll files and registry entries.

The files to be deleted are listed below:

• %UserProfile%\Application Data\hotfix.exe
• %UserProfile%\Application Data\thinksmart.exe
• %UserProfile%\Application Data\antispy.exe

The registry entries that need to be removed are as follows:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PAV
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “smart”
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon “Shell” = “%Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Application Data\hotfix.exe”

Please be aware that manual removal of ThinkSmart is a cumbersome process and does not always ensure complete deletion of the malware, due to the fact that some files might be hidden or may get reanimated automatically afterwards. Moreover, manual interference of this kind may cause damage to the system. That’s why we strongly recommend automatic removal ThinkSmart, which will save your time and enable avoiding any system malfunctions and guarantee the needed result.

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