Your PC is infected with malicious software

'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' is a fake error message that's various rogue security programs create to disable your ability to browse websites. All browsers are vulnerable to being attacked by 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' errors which are always symptoms of larger infections by threats. In reality, your web browser is uninfected, but access to it has been replaced with a dummy program that creates the 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' error. You can use Safe Mode to disable the original threat, which will prevent 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' errors from interfering with your web browsing. Permanently removing 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' occurrences simply entails using anti-malware software to remove the rogue security program that causes them.

How 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' Came to Haunt Your Browser

'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' isn't a real error message even though it imitates the look of an Internet Explorer emergency screen. 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' attacks can appear on IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and all other popular web browsers.

'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' is just one of many possible symptoms that are used by rogue security programs in the fake AVG Antivirus 2011 family. Other fake anti-virus applications known to use 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' messages include E-Set Antivirus 2011, Antivirus 8 and Windows Custom Settings. These rogue security programs can't detect infections on your PC, but they'll still pretend to do so with fake alerts like 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched.'

Most rogue security programs like the ones that utilize 'Your PC are infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' errors are distributed by Trojans that infect your PC by using browser script exploits. AVG Antivirus 2011 and other threats will immediately pretend to be highly visible anti-virus programs, but their real functions are related to causing problems like restricting your Internet access with 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' screens.

To protect yourself from these initial infections, consider:

• Disabling JavaScript and Flash for untrustworthy sites. This will help to reduce possible attack vectors for these Trojans, and hence reduce the possibility of you ever seeing 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' on your browser. Most web browsers will allow you to disable these options by default.
• Keeping your web browser updated. Updates will often fix security loopholes that are exploited to force malicious security programs like Trojans onto your PC.
• Avoiding downloads of anti-virus or anti-spyware programs from non-reputable sources. Many rogue security programs are widely-distributed through generalist download storehouse websites, and most will even have their own professional-looking home websites. Verify the integrity of an anti-malware program through multiple sources, before you consider downloading it.

The Inner Workings of 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched'

'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' is actually a sophisticated form of a browser hijack attack. By altering your Windows Registry, the threat responsible for 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' will modify the launch options for popular browser applications, to be switched out for a fake security application created by the rogue security program.

This fake web browser is launched whenever you try to launch your real web browser, and allows the threat to display 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' errors or otherwise control your web browsing activities. Browser hijacks may also take the form of altered homepage settings, search results that redirect you to dangerous websites, loud audio advertisements or links embedded in online content.

These rogue security programs may remain active even if you attempt to close them, and can also cause other problems like crashing applications or the creation of fake system alerts about infections that aren't on your PC.

Booting in a way that stops the rogue security program from launching will let you access your normal web browser without 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' errors appearing. You can do this by:

• Using a different operating system that doesn't use your rogue security program-corrupted Windows Registry in the first place.
• Booting Windows from another source like a CD, which will use the default Windows Registry instead of the one altered by the threat.
• Using Safe Mode, which will only load a minimal amount of programs and may avoid the rogue security program's automatic startup.

Regardless of which of these choices you select, afterwards you should still delete this rogue security program by using anti-malware application. This will insure that you never see 'Your PC is infected with malicious software and browse couldn't be launched' errors again even when booting your PC by normal means.