How to remove Pony from infected computers

What is Pony?

Pony (also known as Fareit) is malware that steals personal data. Research shows that cyber criminals spread this malware in various ways: spam emails, fake Adobe Flash Player updates, scams such as The HoeflerText Font Wasn't Found, etc. The presence of adware-type applications that generate pop-up ads can also lead to Pony infections.

Pony overview

Pony is a virus designed to collect users' logins/passwords and send them to a remote server controlled by cyber criminals. Research shows that this malware is capable of cracking passwords saved in over one hundred applications including Internet browsers, FTPs, VPNs, and many others. The collected data might be sensitive.

For example, criminals can gain access to your bank accounts. Therefore, the presence of Pony malware can lead to significant financial losses.

In addition, Pony might connect a victim's PC to a botnet, which is used to proliferate this malware to other devices. If you suspect that your system is infected or you have recently opened/downloaded dubious files/applications, you should immediately scan the system with a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware suite and eliminate all detected threats.

As mentioned above, Pony might have been distributed using intrusive pop-up ads or delivered by potentially unwanted adware-type programs (PUPs). These programs deliver advertisements such as coupons, banners, and so on. The ads can lead to malicious websites and execute scripts that download and install malware.

Therefore, even a single click can result in high-risk computer infections. Furthermore, these applications significantly diminish the browsing experience and are displayed using tools that enable placement of third party graphical content on any site. Therefore, they are likely to conceal website content. Another important issue is information tracking.

As with Pony, adware can also gather information that includes personal details, however, these applications are typically not so advanced - they simply record users' Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, websites visited, pages viewed, search queries, and so on.

PUP developers share the collected data with third parties (potentially, cyber criminals) to generate revenue. Therefore, having adware-type apps installed on your computer can also lead to privacy issues. We strongly recommend that you uninstall these programs immediately.

Examples of similar malware

Pony shares similarities with FormBook, Adwind, and dozens of other viruses. Following infiltration, the malware starts gathering sensitive information and sending it to the developers/distributors (cyber criminals). These people then attempt to misuse received data in any possible way to generate as much revenue as possible.

Some viruses are also used to further infect the system. Trojans are known for distributing file-encrypting viruses (a.k.a. ransomware). In the case of these infections, users' privacy and stored data is at risk. Ransomware-type viruses encrypt files using various mathematical algorithms.

Therefore, in most cases, restoring them without developers' help (not recommended) is impossible. In summary, chain computer infections can cause significant issues.

How did Pony infect my computer?

As mentioned above, Pony is promoted in various ways including spam emails containing malicious attachments (e.g., JavaScript files, MS Office documents, PDF files, etc.) By opening these attachments, users run scripts that download and install malware. Fake Flash Player updates and scam errors download and install malware rather than promoted updates/products.

Adware-type applications are typically distributed using "bundling" and intrusive advertising. "Bundling" is stealth installation of PUPs together with regular apps. Developers hide "bundled" programs within "Custom/Advanced" settings or other sections of the download/installation processes.

Many users rush and skip these procedure steps and are also likely to click advertisements. This behavior often leads to inadvertent installation of potentially unwanted programs.

How to avoid installation of malware?

To prevent this situation, be very cautious when browsing the Internet and downloading/installing software. Think twice before opening files attached to emails. If messages are sent from suspicious/unrecognizable email addresses, delete them immediately and certainly do not open any attachments.

Furthermore, keep installed applications up-to-date and use a legitimate anti-virus software, however, since criminals proliferate malware via fake updaters, we recommend that you use implemented update functions or tools provided by the official developer only.

It is also very important to carefully analyze each window of the download/installation dialogs and opt-out of all additionally-included programs. Third party downloaders/installers are often monetized using the "bundling" method. Therefore, these tools should not be used. Download your apps from official sources only, using direct download links.

Intrusive advertisements usually seem legitimate, but when clicked redirect to dubious sites (gambling, adult dating, pornography, etc.) If you experience these redirects, immediately remove all dubious applications and browser plug-ins. Having a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running is also paramount.

The key to computer safety is caution. If you believe that your computer is infected with Pony, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Another spam email distributing Pony virus:

Malicious .doc file distributing Pony virus:

Sample of Pony malware in Task Manager:

Screenshot of a DHL email spam campaign used to spread Pony virus:

Text presented within this email:

Subject:DHL EXPRESS DELIVERY

 

Attachments: 33201.ace, 33202.ace

 

Dear Customer,
Please find attached your IMPORT invoice No. 20GLE121201 which consist
-Tax invoice
-Government Receipt Evident Slip
-Other Clearing Supporting Documents
Also We attached Payment Guidance and Announcement letter for e-Invoicing Launching with Duty Invoice.
Support Team
DHL Worldwide Delivery

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)

My computer is infected with Pony malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?

To remove the Pony malware from your computer, you can format your storage device, but this will erase all your data along with the infection. A better option is to use a reliable anti-malware tool like Combo Cleaner, which can detect and eliminate Pony without deleting your files.

What are the biggest issues that malware can cause?

Malware can steal your data, cause financial losses, and lead to identity fraud, damage your system, grant hackers access to your accounts, spread to other devices, inject more harmful software on the already infected computer, and more.

What is the purpose of Pony?

Pony steals login credentials from browsers, FTPs, VPNs, and other applications, potentially giving hackers access to sensitive accounts, including banking services, leading to financial losses. Additionally, Pony can connect infected devices to a botnet, spreading malware further.

How did Pony infiltrate my computer?

Cybercriminals spread Pony malware through spam emails with malicious attachments. Opening these files triggers scripts that install the malware. It is also delivered via fake software updates and scam error messages.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Combo Cleaner can identify and eliminate most malware infections. However, some advanced threats may remain hidden, making a full system scan essential for complete removal.