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Vista Total Security 2013

Posted: October 25, 2012

Threat Metric

Ranking: 1,987
Threat Level: 2/10
Infected PCs: 52,709
First Seen: October 25, 2012
Last Seen: October 17, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

Vista Total Security 2013 promotes itself as an anti-malware scanner that detects and prevents malware from damaging your computer. However, the ugly truth behind Vista Total Security 2013 is that Vista Total Security 2013 is more likely to harm your PC than help it and SpywareRemove.com malware analysts can guarantee that Vista Total Security 2013 will not ever find or delete even a single Trojan. Attacks by Vista Total Security 2013 can include disabling Windows security functions, blocking programs and redirecting your browser, although Vista Total Security 2013's foremost goal is to steal money with a software registration scam. If you do what you should do and use actual anti-malware software to remove Vista Total Security 2013 as soon as you can, then you should be able to keep your money while also putting a halt to all of the above attacks.

The Hazards that Give the Lie to Vista Total Security 2013's 'Total Security'

Vista Total Security 2013 is one of many FakeRean-based fake anti-malware scanners that use fake scans, program-blocking attacks and inaccurate pop-up alerts to make it appear as though your computer is threatened by numerous types of malware. Taskbar-based alerts, dialog box pop-ups that imitate Windows messages and fake anti-malware system scans all are tools employed by Vista Total Security 2013 in its attempts to display fake system information. Commonly, warnings from Vista Total Security 2013 will threaten about attacks that attempt to steal or have stolen confidential information (such as passwords).

Vista Total Security 2013 is designed to launch automatically and will even launch after attempts to open other EXE files, as well as inject some of its components into normal system files. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have found these functions to be used to prevent Vista Total Security 2013 from closing and to block other programs with fake alerts from Vista Total Security 2013. Being blocked by Vista Total Security 2013 can occur whenever you try to access an EXE or executable file (other file types are unaffected by this attack).

Proxy server changes also allow Vista Total Security 2013 to redirect you from normal websites to websites that display fake warning pages – and also block websites that Vista Total Security 2013 doesn't want you to access. These web page errors look superficially identical to normal errors that are displayed when you try to access invalid or malicious websites.

Vista Total Security 2013 and the Line of Scamware that's Happy to Hurt the Whole Windows Lineup

SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have identified Vista Total Security 2013 as a member of a group of scamware programs that are, in most respects, identical to Vista Total Security 2013. Both in appearance and major attacks, you can expect any of the following programs to be just as malicious as Vista Total Security 2013:

  • 'Home Security' programs like Win 7 Home Security or Vista Home Security.
  • 'Total Security' programs like Vista Total Security 2011 or Vista Total Security 2012.
  • 'Guardian' programs like XP Guardian 2010 or Win 7 Guardian.
  • 'Antivirus' programs like XP Antivirus 2010, Vista Antivirus 2011 or Win 7 Antivirus Pro 2010.

A general sample of other members of Vista Total Security 2013's large FakeRean family are Antivirus 2008 Pro, Antivirus XP 2008, Windows Antivirus 2008, Vista Antivirus 2008, PC Clean Pro, Antivirus Pro 2009, Rogue.Vista Antivirus 2008, AntiSpy Safeguard, ThinkPoint, Spyware Protection 2010, Internet Antivirus 2011, Palladium Pro, XP Anti-Virus 2011, CleanThis, XP Security 2012, XP Home Security 2012 and AntiVirus PRO 2015. While the brand names are relatively generic, the symptoms from most of Vista Total Security 2013's relatives are identical to those shown by Vista Total Security 2013.

Of course, anti-malware programs with any degree of competence can delete Vista Total Security 2013. If the programs needed to remove Vista Total Security 2013 are blocked by Vista Total Security 2013, SpywareRemove.com malware experts suggest using Safe Mode or a USB drive-based system boot as a workaround to Vista Total Security 2013's startup exploit.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:
positivestar.org
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