How to remove Windows Maintenance Suite?
Windows Maintenance Suite is a malicious security software which impersonates a legitimate antivirus program and tries to scare PC users into believing that their computers are infected with malware. To achieve this misleading goal Windows Maintenance Suite pretends to scan your computer and displays false detection results, this bogus program also generates various fake security messages and blocks execution of your installed Windows programs. This rogue antivirus software comes from a family of fake anti-viruses called "FakeVimes", Internet criminals who are responsible for releasing this family has already created over one hundred fake antivirus programs which all shares the same interface and uses same strategies to infect users computers. Most commonly Windows Maintenance Suite is spread using fake online security pop-ups which either states that your computer is infected with viruses or displays a fake security scan and then offers you to download this program to eliminate the found security threats. To avoid infiltration by Windows Maintenance Suite and other similar rogues you shouldn't trust any of such online security pop-ups, they are fake and are used by Cyber criminals to distribute malicious software. There's no way how any of such security pop-ups could know of security infection that could be on your PC.
After Windows Maintenance Suite infects your computer it will immediately initiate a security check-up and will come up with a big list of high risk malware found on your computer. To make this detection list appear more real this rogue software will also display fake warning messages which states that you should activate this program in order to secure your computer. If you click on "activate ultimate protection" or "Remove All" button in Windows Maintenance Suite you will be asked to purchase a licence for this program. Don't buy this program, you will send your money to Internet criminals and you will end up with a useless security program on your PC. Previous variants of this fake security scanner were called Windows PC Aid, Windows Safety Wizard, Windows Turnkey Console and many other. You should understand that all of the processes shown by Windows Maintenance Suite are falsificated, none of the security threats that this program detects actually exists on your computer. Ignore all the security scans and pop-up shown by this rogue software and eliminate it from your PC.
Windows Maintenance Suite generates such fake warning messages:
"Warning! Virus Detected Threat detected: FTP Server Infected file: C:\Windows\System32\dllcache\wmploc.dll"
"Warning! Identity theft attempt Detected Hidden connection IP: 58.82.12.124 Target: Your passwords for sites"
"Error Key-logger activity detected. System information security is at risk. It is recommended to activate protection and run a full system scan"
Windows Maintenance Suite removal:
Before downloading the remover for Windows Maintenance Suite click a question mark icon at the top of the main window of this program, choose "Activate Now" and enter this registration code: 0W000-000B0-00T00-E0020 This will enable blocked Windows functions and will make the further removal process much easier, after entering the activation code continue to downloading the spyware remover.
remover for Windows Maintenance Suite
If you can't download or run spyware remover try running registry fix (link below). It enables execution of programs. download registryfix.reg file, double click it, click YES and then OK.
Manual Windows Maintenance Suite removal instructions:
Step 1
Start your computer in safe mode. Click Start, then click Shut down. Select Restart and click OK. During your computer starting process press F8 key on your keyboard multiple times until Windows Advanced Options menu shows up, then select Safe mode with networking from the list and press ENTER.
Step 2
Now we need to remove proxy settings. Windows Maintenance Suite adds a proxy to your Internet connection settings to show various errors when you try to access Internet. To do this, open Internet explorer, click Tools and select Internet Options. Then select the "Connections" tab.
In the "Connections" tab, click LAN settings, if a "Use a proxy server for your LAN" is checked, uncheck it and press OK.
Step 3
Download HijackThis and save it on your desktop. Some malicious programs are able to block HijackThis so when you click the download link, in the Save dialog rename HijackThis.exe to iexplore.exe and only then click the Save button. After saving the file on your desktop, double click it. In the main HijackThis window click “Do a system scan only” button. Select these entries (place a tick at the left of the entry):
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Inspector] %AppData%\Protector.exe (Protector.exe file may have 3 or more random characters at the end of it's file name like ProtectionGQY.exe)
After selecting required entries, click "Fix Checked" and these entries will be removed. After this procedure you can close HijackThis and proceed to the next removal step.
Step 4
Download a legitimate anti-spyware software to fully remove Windows Maintenance Suite from your computer.
Step 5
After removing Windows Maintenance Suite, you will need to reset your Hosts file. Don't skip this step, this malware modifies your Hosts files, and you will encounter browser redirect problems if malicious entries will not be removed from hosts file.
Hosts file is used to resolve some canonical names of websites to IP addresses. When it is changed, the user may be redirected to malicious site still seeing good URL in address bar. It is very hard to find out if the site is genuine or not, when hosts file is modified. To fix this, please download Microsoft Fix It tool, that restores your hosts file to Windows default. Run this tool when downloaded and follow the on-screen instructions. Download link below:
Finish
After doing all these steps your computer should be clean. Windows Maintenance Suite will be removed.
Other tools known to remove Windows Maintenance Suite:
Some malicious software modifies browser settings and disables downloads of spyware and virus removing software. If you have problems downloading anti-spyware software with Internet Explorer, try downloading with Chrome, FireFox, Opera, etc.
If you can't access Internet:
Load your computer in safe mode. Click Start, click Shut down, click Restart, click OK. During your computer starting process press F8 key on your keyboard multiple times until you see Windows Advanced Option menu, then select Safe mode with networking from the list.
Start Task manager. Press ctrl+alt+del (or ctrl+shift+esc) and end task the processes of rogue program. ( if after this procedure you can't access any programs press ctrl+alt+del, click File, select New Task, and type explorer.exe then press OK.
Open Internet explorer, click Tools and select Internet Options. Select Connections, then click LAN settings, if a Use a proxy server for your LAN is checked, un-check it and press OK.
After this procedure you should be able to access Internet. Now you can download anti-spyware software from our "Top spyware removers" section and run a full scan. Download, install and don't forget to update your selected anti-spyware program. Then run a full system scan.
Manual Windows Maintenance Suite removal:
If you were unable to remove Windows Maintenance Suite using the steps above, you can use this manual removal instruction. Use it at your own risk. If you don't have strong computer knowledge you could harm your operating system. Be careful and use it only if you are an experienced computer user. (Instructions on how to end processes, remove registry entries...)
End these Windows Maintenance Suite processes:
random.exe
Protector.exe (Protector.exe file may have 3 or more random characters at the end of it's file name like ProtectionGQY.exe)
Remove these Windows Maintenance Suite registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\_avp32.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ashLogV.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\beagle.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\jedi.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\msa.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ntvdm.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\rav7.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\spoler.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\vir-help.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\wupdt.exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings "WarnOnHTTPSToHTTPRedirect" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableRegedit" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableRegistryTools" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableTaskMgr" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Inspector"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Settings "net
Delete these Windows Maintenance Suite files:
%StartMenu%\Programs\Windows Maintenance Suite.lnk
%AppData%\Protector.exe (NOTE: this file may have various symbols at the end of it's name. Look for the similar file name pattern and remove it)
%AppData%\result.db
%Desktop%\Windows Maintenance Suite.lnk
Other tips, that might help remove Windows Maintenance Suite
- If you can't download anti-spyware software: Click on the download link, when the save dialog opens change the file name (example: when downloading mbam-setup.exe rename it to iexplore.exe).
- If you have installed anti-spyware program but you can't run it do the following steps:
- Click Run, type %ProgramFiles% and press Enter. Open folder of your anti-spyware program, search for executable file and rename it. (example: Open Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware folder, right-click on the main executable file (mbam.exe) then click rename. Rename the mbam.exe file to iexplore.exe, winlogon.exe firefox.exe or other known executable file.
- If you can't access your anti-spyware software, try creating a new user account:
Click Start -> Settings -> Control panel.
Click User Accounts and create a new account.
Reboot your computer and log in using a newly created user account.
After this procedure you should be able to access your anti-spyware programs. Update and run a full system scan.