Windows 7 System Repair

Posted: July 16, 2011

Windows 7 System Repair is a scamware variant of a defragmenter that looks and behaves like a defragmenter while not giving any of the useful features that a real defragmenter would have to offer your PC. In spite of its respectable-sounding moniker, Windows 7 System Repair is no better than a virus and comes from the same line of rogue programs as System Repair. Windows 7 System Repair infections have been known to make files appear to be deleted or moved, disable security-related software and create system alerts that don't match up with reality. Rather than tolerating these issues from a fake defragmenter, you should go ahead and delete Windows 7 System Repair with a quality anti-malware product.

The Direct Threats That Windows 7 System Repair Creates Against Your Computer's Security

Although, as a fake defragmenter, Windows 7 System Repair has several features that related to pretending to defrag your computer, the worst of Windows 7 System Repair's behavior is reserved for creating problems that it can pretend to blame on unrelated hard disk errors. Some common dangers that Windows 7 System Repair may use to confuse you include:

Shutting down your ability to use real security or system analysis programs. This can include actual defragmenters, Task Manager, Registry Editor and even anti-virus software. Windows 7 System Repair will try to convince you that this blockade isn't its fault, but if you find a way to stop Windows 7 System Repair from being active, you'll be able to use these programs again.
Hiding files on your hard drive. This particularly infamous Windows 7 System Repair attack will alter the appearance of a folder's contents without harming or moving the files themselves. Because of this, Windows 7 System Repair's file-hiding trick only works in Windows Explorer, so using a different file-browsing program can be helpful.
Launching itself automatically and remaining active in the background so that it can use the above attacks against your PC whenever it likes. Most methods of stopping Windows 7 System Repair from doing this involve using a Windows boot CD, a USB drive with an OS installed on it or the Safe Mode boot option.

Shoving Aside Windows 7 System Repair's Endless List of Hard Drive Complaints

All of the problems noted above are just dangerous supplements to Windows 7 System Repair's real goal: to steal your money by making you purchase a worthless Windows 7 System Repair registration key. You can use the code 8475082234984902023718742058948 to register Windows 7 System Repair before you delete the rogue application, although the use of good security software is still recommended.

The most blatant, if not most dangerous part of a Windows 7 System Repair infection is its ability to spawn countless errors, warnings and pop-ups that make your computer look as though it's much worse off than it is in reality. The following list is just a few of the errors that Windows 7 System Repair may use to trick you:

Critical Error
RAM memory usage is critically high. RAM memory failure.

Critical Error!
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file \System32\496A8300. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware.

Critical Error!
Damaged hard drive clusters detected. Private data is at risk.

Critical Error
A critical error has occurred while indexing data stored on hard drive. System restart required.

Critical Error
Hard Drive not found. Missing hard drive.

Critical Error
Windows can't find hard disk space. Hard drive error.

Low Disk Space
You are running very low disk space on Local Disk (C:).

Windows - No Disk
Exception Processing Message 0x0000013

System Restore
The system has been restored after a critical error. Data integrity and hard drive integrity verification required.

32% of HDD space is unreadable

Data Safety Problem. System integrity is at risk.

Read time of hard drive clusters less than 500 ms

Bad sectors on hard drive or damaged file allocation table

GPU RAM temperature is critically high. Urgent RAM memory optimization is required to prevent system crash.

Ram Temperature is 83 C. Optimization is required for normal operation.

Requested registry access is not allowed. Registry defragmentation required.

Hard drive doesn't respond to system commands

File System Modifications

The following files were created in the system:

# File Name

1 %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].dll

2 %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe

#	File Name
1	%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].dll
2	%AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:
HKEY..\..\..\..{Subkeys}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download "CheckExeSignatures" = 'no'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Use FormSuggest" = 'yes'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced "Hidden" = '0'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings "CertificateRevocation" = '0'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings "WarnonBadCertRecving" = '0'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop "NoChangingWallPaper" = '1'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations "LowRiskFileTypes" = '/{hq:/s's:/ogn:/uyu:/dyd:/c'u:/bnl:/ble:/sdf:/lrh:/iul:/iulm:/fhg:/clq:/kqf:/'wh:/lqf:/lqdf:/lnw:/lq2:/l2t:/v'w:/rbs:'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments "SaveZoneInformation" = '1'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableTaskMgr" = '1'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "[RANDOM CHARACTERS]"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system "DisableTaskMgr" = '1'

Additional Information on Windows 7 System Repair

The following messages's were detected:

#	Message
1	Critical Error! Damaged hard drive clusters detected. Private data is at risk.
2	Critical Error Windows can't find hard disk space. Hard drive error.
3	Critical Error! Windows was unable to save all the data for the file \System32\496A8300. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware.
4	Critical Error RAM memory usage is critically high. RAM memory failure.
5	Critical Error A critical error has occurred while indexing data stored on hard drive. System restart required.
6	Critical Error Hard Drive not found. Missing hard drive.
7	Low Disk Space You are running very low disk space on Local Disk (C:).
8	System Restore The system has been restored after a critical error. Data integrity and hard drive integrity verification required.
9	32% of HDD space is unreadable
10	Windows - No Disk Exception Processing Message 0x0000013
11	Hard drive doesn't respond to system commands.
12	Data Safety Problem. System integrity is at risk.
13	Ram Temperature is 83 C. Optimization is required for normal operation.
14	Bad sectors on hard drive or damaged file allocation table.
15	Read time of hard drive clusters less than 500 ms.
16	GPU RAM temperature is critically high. Urgent RAM memory optimization is required.
17	Requested registry access is not allowed. Registry defragmentation required.