Live Essential Platinum

Posted: June 23, 2012

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	59

First Seen:	June 23, 2012
Last Seen:	October 8, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Live Essential Platinum is a recent spin-off or variant of the Win32/Winwebsec family of rogue anti-malware programs. Live Essential Platinum pretends to be a reputable anti-malware scanner but doesn't have any ability to find or remove malicious software of any type. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have also found that Live Essential Platinum attacks may be accompanied by severe attacks against real security software, included spontaneous system reboots. To remove Live Essential Platinum and related PC threats from your computer safely, it's recommended that you use appropriate security techniques to disable all malicious software before you attempt to scan your hard drive.

From Trusting a pop-up Alert to Dealing with an Infestation of Live Essential Platinum

Live Essential Platinum, as a WinWeb Security variant, offers system scans against malicious software, 'real-time protection' and privacy-guarding features, but rather than being potent defenses, Live Essential Platinum's features are simple delivery vehicles for fake security information. Since Live Essential Platinum's main aim is to encourage PC users to purchase its software without any regard for their well-being, pop-up warnings and scans by Live Essential Platinum always contain deceitful and highly-negative information about your PC's health. Throughout all of this, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers emphasize that Live Essential Platinum can't remove or even find any form of malicious software, like all Winwebsec-based scamware including Antivirus Security, System Security, AntiSpyware Pro 2009, Total Security, Total Security 2009, Security Tool, Trojan.RogueAV.a.gen, System Adware Scanner 2010, FakeAlert-KW.e, Advanced Security Tool 2010, System Tool 2011, MS Removal Tool, Antivirus Center, Security Shield, Personal Shield Pro, Advanced PC Shield 2012, Security Sphere 2012 and Futurro Antivirus. As a result, you should never spend money on Live Essential Platinum or similar PC threats from its family.

Additionally, Live Essential Platinum may not be the only PC threat that's on your computer. Live Essential Platinum and similar Winwebsec-based rogue anti-malware programs have also been known to install worms like Koobface or Swimnag, and may, themselves, be installed by Trojans such as Zlob. The installation process for Live Essential Platinum has frequently been found to use a 'Security Monitor: WARNING!' fake message as part of the process, and will place Live Essential Platinum on your computer even if you avoid clicking this pop-up's 'OK' button.

All the Essentials to Beating a Live Essential Platinum Infection

Live Essential Platinum and PC threats that install Live Essential Platinum are often distributed by fake system scanners, fraudulent media updates and similar forms of malicious web content. Accordingly, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers recommend using strong browser settings and scanning anything prior to downloading or launching Live Essential Platinum. Anti-malware software, while helpful for removing Live Essential Platinum, should be updated if necessary, since Live Essential Platinum is a relatively new member Winwebsec that may evade detection that's based on out-of-date databases.

Typical behavior for Live Essential Platinum and related PC threats includes extreme attempts to block victims from using real anti-malware programs that could get rid of Live Essential Platinum safely. These attacks can extend to blocking programs, crashing programs in the middle of a scan or rebooting your PC during a scan. As such, disabling all PC threats, including Live Essential Platinum, can be crucial to disinfecting your computer, and SpywareRemove.com malware research team especially recommends booting from a removable media-based device for this purpose.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

%AppData%\[RANDOM]\[RANDOM].exe

File name: %AppData%\[RANDOM]\[RANDOM].exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

%Programs%\Live Essential Platinum\Live Essential Platinum.lnk

File name: %Programs%\Live Essential Platinum\Live Essential Platinum.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

%Desktopdir%\Live Essential Platinum.lnk

File name: %Desktopdir%\Live Essential Platinum.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E

File name: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E
Group: Malware file

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu\Programs\Live Security Platinum

File name: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu\Programs\Live Security Platinum
Group: Malware file

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\{Value}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Installer\Products\5AA458FE087C612E662185E8D95A0456 "(Default)"="1"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Essential Platinum "DisplayIcon" = "'%AppData%\[RANDOM]\[RANDOM].exe,0'"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Security Platinum "DisplayIcon" = "'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E.exe,0'"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Essential Platinum "UninstallString" = "'%AppData%\[RANDOM]\[RANDOM].exe" -u '"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Security Platinum "UninstallString" = "'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E.exe" -u'"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Essential Platinum "ShortcutPath" = "'%AppData%\[RANDOM]\[RANDOM].exe" -u '"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Security Platinum "ShortcutPath" = "'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E.exe" -u'"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Security Platinum "DisplayName" = "'Live Security Platinum'"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\..{RunKeys}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce "[random]" = "%AppData%\[RANDOM]\[RANDOM].exe"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce "529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E" = "'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E\529C50F6007459265E197DE0D151FC4E.exe'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Live Essential Platinum