How to remove the KMSPico program?

What kind of software is KMSPico?

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 in detail

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.

Rather than running KMSPico features, users are often misled into downloading and running malware. In addition, KMSPico's developers encourage users to disable any installed anti-virus applications.

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.

What harm unwanted applications can cause?

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.

Therefore, even a single click might result in high-risk computer infections. Browser hijackers infiltrate web browsers (typically, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox) and promote fake search engines. For instance, these hijackers assign the new tab URL, homepage, and default search engine browser settings to specific URLs.

Furthermore, they reassign browser settings when attempts are made to change them. Therefore, users are unable to return browsers to their previous states and are forced to visit rogue sites. Adware, browser hijackers, and other potentially unwanted programs are also likely to gather various sensitive information.

The list of collected data typically includes (but is not limited to) keystrokes, website URLs visited, pages viewed, search queries, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and Internet service providers (ISPs). Collected information often includes private details that criminals sell to third parties.

These people generate revenue by misusing personal details. Therefore, data tracking can lead to serious privacy issues or even identity theft.

Potentially unwanted programs should be uninstalled immediately. Some PUAs are hidden, and users are unable to remove them manually. Therefore, we strongly advise you to scan your system with a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware suite to remove all PUAs and any remnants.

Additional details

As with KMSPico, some PUAs offer various useful features, however, they are designed only to generate revenue for the developers. Claims to provide 'useful features' are merely attempts to trick users to install or prevent them from uninstalling software. Rather than providing any real value, PUAs pose a direct threat to your privacy and Internet browsing safety.

How did KMSPico infiltrate my computer?

KMSPico has an official download website, however, it is often distributed via malicious websites. In fact, these third party download websites only proliferate KMSPico - they either name malicious applications as KMSPico or develop unofficial downloaders/installers that "bundle" rogue software.

"Bundling" is stealth installation of potentially unwanted programs together with regular software/apps. Developers hide "bundled" programs within the "Custom/Advanced" settings (or other sections) of the download/installation processes.

Many users rush these procedures and skip steps. In doing so, they expose their systems to risk of various infections. KMSPico's developers request users to disable anti-virus applications and, thus, KMSPico might also "bundle" dubious programs.

How to avoid installation of malware?

The main reasons for computer infections are poor knowledge and careless behavior. The key to safety is caution. Therefore, be cautious when browsing the Internet and downloading/installing software. Use only legitimate applications that are not developed by cyber criminals.

In addition, download your software from official sources only and, preferably, using direct download links. Third party downloaders/installers are monetized using the "bundling" method - do not use these tools. Furthermore, cyber criminals invest many resources into intrusive ad design.

Once clicked, however, they redirect to dubious sites (gambling, survey, pornography, and so on). Display of these ads indicates a potential computer infection. If you encounter them, immediately remove all suspicious apps/browser plug-ins and scan the entire system with a legitimate anti-virus suite. If you believe that your computer is already infected, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Screenshot of a malicious KMSPico installer setup:

Screenshot of the malicious KMSPico activator:

Detections of the malicious KMSPico activator in VirusTotal:

Screenshot of a website used to promote a variant of KMSPico which injects system with Buer Loader and AsyncRAT:

Screenshot of a fake KMSPico download website (kms-full[.]com) used to spread Rhadamanthys stealer:

Screenshot of a fake KMSPico download website (trendspider[.]dev) used to spread Lumma Stealer:

Another fake KMSPico download website (kmspico[.]io) used to spread Lumma Stealer:

Screenshot of a website used to promote a variant of KMSPico which injects system with Vidar trojan:

How to remove malware manually?

Most trojan infections can be removed by running a full system scan with Combo Cleaner. The full manual procedure below is for cases where automatic removal failed, where you want to verify a scan caught everything, or where the threat has multiple persistence points.

Tools you'll need

Combo Cleaner Antivirus 7-days free trial

Recommended primary scanner. VB100 certified. The 7-day free trial is available.

Microsoft Defender Offline Free · built-in

Built into Windows. Boots to a clean environment to catch rootkits.

Process Explorer Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Better than Task Manager - shows full paths and signatures.

Autoruns Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Lists every place malware can persist on your system.

Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT) Free

Official Microsoft on-demand scanner. Always-current signatures - expires every 10 days.

Phase 1~ 5 min

Contain - limit the damage

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1

Disconnect from the network

30 secNo tool needed

Unplug your Ethernet cable and turn off Wi-Fi. If you're on a laptop, the airplane-mode key works fastest.

Why this matters

Many trojans exfiltrate data - saved browser passwords, banking sessions, screenshots - and accept remote commands. Cutting the network stops both immediately. Keep it disconnected until Phase 4.

2

Boot into Safe Mode with Networking

3 min

Safe Mode loads a minimal set of drivers and stops most malware from auto-running. "With Networking" lets you download tools - re-enable Wi-Fi only after you've booted in.

Windows 11

Open Settings → System → Recovery. Click Restart now next to Advanced startup.

Your computer will restart into the "Choose an option" menu. Click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. After the second reboot, press 5 or F5.

Windows 10

Click the Windows logo, hold Shift, click the Power icon and choose Restart. In the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. Press F5.

Windows 8

Go to the Start Screen, type Advanced, select Settings → Advanced startup options → Restart now → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup settings → Restart → F5.

Note: Windows 8 reached end-of-life in January 2023 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Windows 7

Click Start → Shut Down → Restart → OK. As the system boots, press F8 repeatedly until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, then choose Safe Mode with Networking.

Note: Windows 7 reached end-of-life in January 2020 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Phase 2~ 15 min

Identify - find what's hiding

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3

Inspect running processes with Process Explorer

Tool: Process Explorer5 min

Download Process Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals. Run it as Administrator. Click Options → Verify Image Signatures and View → Lower Pane View → DLLs.

Sort by "Verified Signer." Anything unsigned running from %AppData%, %LocalAppData%, %Temp%, or %ProgramData% is suspicious. Right-click → Properties to see the full image path. Right-click → "Search Online" to look up unfamiliar process names.

Why not just Task Manager

Task Manager hides full file paths, doesn't show digital signatures, and groups processes in ways that make malware easy to miss. Process Explorer is the same tool Microsoft engineers use.

4

Map every persistence point with Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns 14.x10 min

Download Autoruns. Right-click Autoruns.exe and choose Run as administrator - without elevation, Autoruns can't inspect protected registry hives.

In the menu, open Options → Hide Microsoft Entries and Options → Hide Empty Locations, then click Refresh.

Modern trojans don't just live in startup. Walk through these tabs and look for unsigned or unfamiliar entries:

• Logon - classic Run/RunOnce keys
• Scheduled Tasks - frequent hiding spot, especially tasks with PowerShell, MSHTA, or rundll32 actions
• Services - unsigned services in non-Microsoft folders
• WMI - Event Subscriptions are a stealthy persistence mechanism (MITRE T1546.003)
• Image Hijacks - Image File Execution Options "Debugger" abuse
• AppInit - DLLs loaded into every GUI process
• Browser plug-ins - unsigned add-ons across all installed browsers

Pro tip

Right-click any suspicious entry → "Jump to Image" to see the actual file. Right-click → "Search Online" opens VirusTotal for the file hash. Don't delete yet - just write down the file paths and entry names. We'll remove them after the scans.

5

Check the hosts file and DNS settings

3 minBuilt into Windows

Trojans often redirect bank, antivirus, and update domains to attacker-controlled servers by editing the hosts file or DNS settings.

Hosts file: Open Notepad as Administrator and open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Legitimate entries are commented with #. Any uncommented IP-to-domain mapping is suspicious - especially redirects for microsoft.com, windowsupdate, or your bank.

DNS settings: Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run ipconfig /all. Confirm your DNS servers point to your ISP, your router, or a known public resolver (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Google 8.8.8.8). Then open Settings → Network & internet → [your adapter] → DNS server assignment and verify both DNS and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) settings haven't been hijacked.

Why this matters

A clean PC with hijacked DNS is still a compromised PC. You'll think you're at chase.com and you'll be at the attacker's clone.

Phase 3~ 60-90 min

Remove - three scans, one cleanup

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No single antivirus catches everything. The order below is intentional: offline scan first (catches rootkits before Windows fully loads), then on-demand scanners on the running system, then manual cleanup of anything they missed.

6

Run Microsoft Defender Offline

Tool: Built into Windows15 min

Reboot to normal Windows. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Scan options. Select Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) and click Scan now. Your computer will restart into a stripped-down environment and scan before the full operating system loads.

Why this comes first

Rootkits and bootkits hide from any scanner running on the same Windows session that's already infected. A pre-boot offline scan sees the disk before the malware can hide itself.

Recommended antivirus

Combo Cleaner

VB100 certified. Includes anti-trojan, registry/persistence scanning, anti-spyware in one pass. The 7-day free trial is available.

Download Combo Cleaner

7

Run Combo Cleaner full system scan

Tool: Combo Cleaner20-40 min

Install Combo Cleaner and run a full system scan (not the quick scan). Let it complete fully, review the detected threats, and apply the recommended actions. Combo Cleaner will quarantine known trojans and registry persistence.

8

Run Microsoft Safety Scanner as a second-opinion scan

Tool: Microsoft Safety Scanner15 min

Download Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT.exe), Microsoft's free on-demand tool. The binary expires every 10 days, which means every download has the latest signatures. Run a full scan after Combo Cleaner to catch anything one engine alone might miss.

Why a second scan

Different scanning engines catch different threats. Running an additional Microsoft scan after Combo Cleaner is the single most underused verification step in malware removal.

9

Manually remove anything still listed in Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns10 min

Reopen Autoruns. Anything you flagged in Step 4 that's still present hasn't been caught by the automated scans. For each remaining suspicious entry: right-click → Delete in Autoruns (this removes the persistence registration), then navigate to the file path and delete the actual file. Empty the Recycle Bin.

Important

Some malware files reappear after deletion because something else on the system recreates them. If you delete a file and it returns within minutes, you have a remaining persistence point that Autoruns didn't show - usually a service or scheduled task running under SYSTEM. Re-run the scans from Steps 6-8 or proceed to a clean install (see end of guide).

Phase 4~ 15 min

Recover - restore browsers and security

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10

Reset browsers and clear notification permissions

5 min

Trojans and adware frequently hijack browsers - change the default search engine, install rogue extensions, or grant themselves notification permissions to keep displaying scam pop-ups even after the malware is gone.

• Chrome: visit chrome://settings/reset and click "Restore settings to their original defaults." Then visit chrome://settings/content/notifications and remove any unfamiliar sites.
• Edge: visit edge://settings/reset. Then check edge://settings/content/notifications.
• Firefox: open about:support and click Refresh Firefox (Firefox uses "Refresh," not "Reset"). Then check Settings → Privacy & Security → Permissions → Notifications.

Review installed extensions in each browser and remove anything you don't recognize, especially extensions you didn't install yourself.

11

Re-enable Defender, Tamper Protection, and update everything

10 min

Many trojans disable security software. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings and confirm Real-time protection, Cloud-delivered protection, and Tamper Protection are all turned on. Tamper Protection prevents malware from disabling Defender silently.

Then run Windows Update (Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates) and update your browsers and applications. The infection vector that let the trojan in originally usually involves outdated software.

Phase 5~ 15 min + 7 days

Verify & secure

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12

Change passwords from a clean device

20 min⚠ Critical

If the trojan was an info-stealer (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar, and similar are extremely common), assume every password saved in your browser is compromised. Change them from a different, known-clean device - your phone is fine if it's not infected.

Recommended order:

1. Primary email first - it's the recovery hub for everything else
2. Banking and financial accounts
3. Password manager master password (if you use one)
4. Social media, shopping, and remaining accounts

Where available, enable phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (passkeys / FIDO2 hardware keys / authenticator apps) - SMS-based MFA is bypassable by sophisticated attackers.

13

Verify the clean and monitor for 7 days

5 min + 1 week monitoring

Reconnect to the network and run one final full scan with Combo Cleaner. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and switch to the Startup apps tab - confirm nothing suspicious has reappeared.

Over the next 7 days, watch for symptom recurrence: unexpected high CPU usage, unknown processes returning, browser redirects, or pop-ups. If anything returns, you missed a persistence point and the procedure needs to be repeated - or you may have a deeper compromise that requires a clean install.

When to clean install Windows instead

Manual removal isn't always the right answer. Reinstalling Windows from scratch is the only way to be 100% certain when:

• The malware reappears after every removal attempt
• A bootkit or UEFI rootkit was detected (this class of threat sits below the operating system and survives a normal Windows reinstall)
• A confirmed credential-theft trojan ran with administrator privileges (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar) - the system likely has multiple unknown payloads
• The PC is used for online banking, business email, or anything where partial doubt isn't acceptable

A clean install is a 30-60 minute process: Windows 11 reinstall via Settings → System → Recovery → Reset this PC → Remove everything → Cloud download. Back up documents to external storage first, scan the backup with Combo Cleaner before restoring it, and reinstall applications fresh - never restore them from a backup of the infected system.

Important: Manual removal requires advanced computer skills. If you're not confident identifying system files from malicious files, run an automated scan with Combo Cleaner and Windows Defender and stop there - that path catches the vast majority of consumer trojans without the risk of breaking Windows by deleting the wrong file.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the biggest issues that malware can cause?

It depends on the type of malware. It could be used to steal identities, money, hijack online accounts, cause further infections, encrypt files.

What is the purpose of a malware?

Cybercriminals use malware to generate revenue.  In some cases, they can use malicious software to target someone they know to interrupt certain processes, disturb a company, or even attack a country. The most common goals of cybercriminals are to steal sensitive information or encrypt files (and demand payment for their decryption).

How did a malware infiltrate my computer?

Threat actors use various phishing and other social engineering techniques to distribute malware. For example, they attempt to trick users into opening malicious email attachments (or links in emails) or create fake system warning messages. In other cases, malware is distributed via drive-by downloads, P2P networks, software cracking tools. It is important to know that certain types of malware can spread themselves via local networks and removable storage devices.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate almost all known malicious programs. Some of them can be designed to hide deep in the system. Thus, computers should be scanned for malware using a full scan.