Great Antispy 2012

Posted: September 2, 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:	267

First Seen:	September 2, 2012
Last Seen:	September 12, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Great Antispy 2012 is a rogue anti-spyware scanner that, in spite of its protests, is incapable of finding or deleting real spyware from your PC. Besides a misleading name that implies that Great Antispy 2012 is just the latest in a nonexistent ancestral line of 'Great Antispy' brand programs, Great Antispy 2012 makes itself seem useful by detecting imaginary infections, including high-level threats that are identified by technical names (such as Oscarbot.YQ, a browser hijacker that promotes various types of paid service websites). Given Great Antispy 2012's deficiencies in anti-spyware features, ESG malware researchers recommend ignoring Great Antispy 2012's fake scans and deleting Great Antispy 2012 as soon as you can install and launch an actual anti-malware program.

The Not-So-Great Tale of What Great Antispy 2012 Offers Your PC

Great Antispy 2012, despite its '2012' tag, isn't the latest in a long line of anti-spyware products – although its functions do resemble those of many similar types of scamware from its family, which is the FakeRean family. While ESG malware researchers have been unable to find any hint of real anti-spyware functions in Great Antispy 2012, Great Antispy 2012 does have numerous features related to displaying fake spyware infections. System scans from Great Antispy 2012 and its clones, which may launch automatically, will always display unpleasant results and should be ignored as fraudulent. Clones of Great Antispy 2012 include 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.

Besides pop-ups, Great Antispy 2012 may also display fake pop-up warnings to block other programs, censor websites related to PC security or simply at random. Like its scans, Great Antispy 2012's pop-ups are incapable of providing any security benefits and don't have any purpose that ESG malware analysts can discern – other than providing a dramatic showing of fake PC threats that Great Antispy 2012 wants real money for removing.

Being the Anti-Great Spy to Great Antispy 2012 Infections

Fake spyware programs like Great Antispy 2012 usually are distributed by one of the following methods:

Trojan downloaders and Trojan droppers, such as Zlob-based PC threats, often disguise themselves as codecs or other media updates. As long as you make a point of procuring software updates from legitimate sources, you shouldn’t have much to fear from getting a Great Antispy 2012 infection through this method.
Alternately, Great Antispy 2012 may be installed through fake online scanners and fraudulent security updates that claim that your PC is infected. Such downloads usually are generic and will not specify the type of rogue security software that they request you to install – an easy way of detecting installers for Great Antispy 2012 and similar types of fake anti-malware products.

While Great Antispy 2012 may not have anything beneficial to offer your computer, ESG malware research team does recommend that you use real anti-malware products to disinfect Great Antispy 2012 whenever you see symptoms of its attacks. As long as you delete Great Antispy 2012 promptly and thoroughly, your PC shouldn't suffer significant damage from Great Antispy 2012-related attacks – regardless of the alarming nature of the fake warnings that Great Antispy 2012's anti-spyware alerts contain.

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:

%LocalAppData%\[RANDOM].exe

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

%System%\drivers\[RANDOM].sys

File name: %System%\drivers\[RANDOM].sys
File type: System file
Mime Type: unknown/sys
Group: Malware file

%StartMenu%\Programs\Great Antispy 2012\

File name: %StartMenu%\Programs\Great Antispy 2012\
Group: Malware file

%StartMenu%\Programs\Great Antispy 2012\Buy Great Antispy 2012.lnk

File name: %StartMenu%\Programs\Great Antispy 2012\Buy Great Antispy 2012.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

%StartMenu%\Programs\Great Antispy 2012\Launch Great Antispy 2012.lnk

File name: %StartMenu%\Programs\Great Antispy 2012\Launch Great Antispy 2012.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

%UserProfile%\Desktop\Buy Great Antispy 2012.lnk

File name: %UserProfile%\Desktop\Buy Great Antispy 2012.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\{Value}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Ranges\Range1 "*" = "1"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Ranges\Range1 ":Range" = "127.0.0.1"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\..{RunKeys}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "[RANDOM].exe"

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

initiatecurrentmostthefile.vip