How to remove Belonard from the operating system?

What kind of malware is Belonard?

Belonard is a trojan-type virus that targets Counter Strike 1.6 players. This malware infiltrates computers by exploiting remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities in the game client. After successful infiltration, Belonard modifies the game client to promote various servers, delivers ads, and so on.

More about Belonard

One of the main purposes of Belonard is to promote various Counter Strike 1.6 servers. Any server owner can pay Belonard developers a fee and the malware will then start promoting the server. Belonard achieves this by modifying the infected client so that the server list prioritizes servers promoted via Belonard.

Note also that the infected machine is used to spread Belonard even further. Cyber criminals proliferate Belonard using proxy servers to exploit the aforementioned RCE vulnerabilities. Proxies redirect users with a high response time (ping) to game servers in different geo-locations or hosts.

This is to "smooth" the connection and gain a faster response time, however, cyber criminals also use these proxies to redirect users to game servers that execute malicious code and inject Belonard into the system. This malware runs a proxy server on each infected machine, which also redirects to the same servers designed to execute malicious code.

Another distribution method changes the player's nickname. Belonard is designed to assign the player's nickname to a URL, which is a download link of an already infected Counter Strike 1.6 client. In summary, Belonard itself is not a particularly high-risk trojan (at least not yet).

As mentioned above, its main purpose is to help developers generate revenue by promoting Counter Strike 1.6 game servers. Note that the entire Belonard network has been shut down, however, there is the possibility that criminals will start another infection campaign and continue to promote servers.

At this time, Belonard does not pose a significant threat (its functionality does not include other malware promotion, information stealing, or other similar malicious actions). Therefore, unless cyber criminals modify this malware in future, victims will notice just two effects: system performance will decrease (due to running a proxy server) and the list of game servers will be modified.

In any case, we strongly recommend that you eliminate this malware by scanning the system with a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite and removing all detected threats. You should also reinstall the game client, however, be sure to download it from trustworthy/official sources only.

Conclusion

Belonard is a rather an uncommon trojan and, thus, shares few similarities with other infections of this type. In most cases, trojan-type infections record sensitive data (logins/passwords, credit card information, keystrokes, etc.) and inject additional malware into the system.

They pose a significant threat and their presence might lead to serious privacy issues (financial loss, identity theft, etc.), permanent data loss, and various other problems. Some examples of trojans that pose such threats are AZORult, Adwind, TrickBot, FormBook, Hancitor, and Emotet.

How did Belonard infiltrate my computer?

As mentioned above, Belonard is mainly distributed using proxy servers. Therefore, unlike in most computer infections, Belonard infiltration is not generally caused by users. It commonly infiltrates when users connect to a server and are redirected to malicious websites. As mentioned, Belonard sets the victim's in-game nickname to an infected game client download link.

In this way, developers also proliferate already-infected game clients and, thus, Belonard infection might occur when users downloaded the Counter Strike 1.6 game client from a dubious source. In most cases, the main reasons for computer infections are poor knowledge of these threats and careless behavior.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Trojan-type infections are usually proliferated using email spam campaigns (malicious attachments), fake software updaters, cracking tools, third party software download sources (peer-to-peer [P2P] networks, freeware download websites, free file hosting sites, etc.), and other trojans (chain infections).

Therefore, to prevent computer infections, be very cautious when browsing the internet and downloading, installing, and updating software. Carefully study each email attachment received. If the file/link is irrelevant or the sender seems suspicious, do not open anything.

Download applications from official sources only (via direct download links) and avoid using third party downloaders/installers, since they often include rogue apps. Keep installed applications (and operating systems) up-to-date, however, this should be achieved only through implemented functions or tools provided by the official developer. Never use software cracking tools, since software piracy is considered a cyber crime and the risk of infection is extremely high.

Lastly, have a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running. These tools protect the system by detecting and eliminating malware before the system is damaged. 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.

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 Belonard malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?

formatting is not always necessary to remove malware like Belonard from a computer. In most cases, malware like Belonard can be removed using reputable antivirus software, such as Combo Cleaner.

What are the biggest issues that malware can cause?

The effects of malware can range from the theft of personal information to file encryption and the disruption or complete disablement of computer systems.

What is the purpose of Belonard malware?

After infecting the system, Belonard alters the list of game servers in the game client and generates proxy servers on the compromised computer to proliferate the Trojan and promote various servers.

How did Belonard infiltrate my computer?

Belonard often spreads when players connect to an infected server and are directed to malicious websites. The virus changes the victim's in-game name to a link for downloading an infected game client. In addition, the perpetrators behind Belonard also spread contaminated game clients, meaning that users might become infected if they download the Counter Strike 1.6 game client from an untrusted source.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Combo Cleaner has the capability to identify and eliminate almost all known malware infections. However, it is important to note that sophisticated malware tends to conceal itself deeply in the system. Therefore, running a full system scan is essential to find and remove hidden threats.