XP Smart Defender

Posted: March 2, 2013

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:	98

First Seen:	March 4, 2013
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

XP Smart Defender may look a PC security program that protects your PC from malware and live attacks, but XP Smart Defender's real purpose is to steal money and financial information. As a rogue anti-malware program, XP Smart Defender can display imitative facsimiles of Windows alerts and anti-malware scans, but can neither find nor remove actual threats to your computer's security. Even though XP Smart Defender will strongly recommend that you spend money registering XP Smart Defender, SpywareRemove.com malware experts can't find any advantages to such a course of action, and suggest that you remove XP Smart Defender with an anti-malware program that has a better reputation for accuracy than XP Smart Defender.

How a Program So 'Smart' Failed Its PC Security Class

XP Smart Defender may exactly mimic the basic appearance of a general security and anti-malware program, but doesn't have any intentions of detecting or removing any form of PC threat. SpywareRemove.com malware experts even have stressed the likelihood of XP Smart Defender launching attacks that can include:

Blocking various applications – in most cases, along with pop-ups that falsely claim that these programs are damaged.
Hijacking your browser for various purposes, including blocking PC security sites, redirecting you to registration pages for XP Smart Defender or implying that your browser has been in contact with malicious web content.

These attacks are disguised by fake Windows pop-ups that try to accuse unrelated malware of being to blame for the attacks that originate from XP Smart Defender. Many of XP Smart Defender's pop-ups will attempt to imitate warnings from the Windows firewall or other applications that actually are on your computer, with alerts that claim to notify you about high-level threats (such as attempted identity theft). When combined with fake system scans that show large arrays of malware infections, XP Smart Defender hopes to make its victims desperate enough to acquire a registration key for its program.

Outsmarting a Security Fraud at Its Own Game

XP Smart Defender belongs to the WinPC Defender family, the same family of fake anti-malware applications as Ultimate Defender, SystemDefender, IE Defender, Advanced XP Defender, XP Defender, WinDefender2008, PCTotalDefender, PC Defender 2008, Personal Defender 2009, WinDefender 2009, Perfect Defender 2009, Total Defender, Malware Defender 2009, WinPC Defender, PC Privacy Defender, Smart Defender Pro, Rogue.UltimateDefender, FraudTool.LastDefender.b and Security Defender Pro 2015. Any member of XP Smart Defender's family should be considered just as dangerous for your PC as XP Smart Defender, and SpywareRemove.com malware analysts recommend similar tactics for removing all of them.

Because XP Smart Defender can block the real anti-malware programs that could remove XP Smart Defender most easily, you may need to prevent XP Smart Defender from starting as an initial security step. Safe Mode usually is the simplest way of disabling malware like XP Smart Defender, but you also can consider loading a separate OS from a peripheral hard drive-based device. After this, deleting XP Smart Defender with any anti-malware product that you trust is the fastest way to put an end to your XP Smart Defender problem.

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:

%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\defs.bin

File name: %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\defs.bin
File type: Binary File
Mime Type: unknown/bin
Group: Malware file

%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\vl.bin

File name: %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\vl.bin
File type: Binary File
Mime Type: unknown/bin
Group: Malware file

%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\config.bin

File name: %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\config.bin
File type: Binary File
Mime Type: unknown/bin
Group: Malware file

%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\app.ico

File name: %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\app.ico
Mime Type: unknown/ico
Group: Malware file

%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\support.ico

File name: %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\support.ico
Mime Type: unknown/ico
Group: Malware file

%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\uninst.ico

File name: %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\uninst.ico
Mime Type: unknown/ico
Group: Malware file

%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\[RANDOM].exe

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

%CommonDesktopDir%\XP Smart Defender.lnk

File name: %CommonDesktopDir%\XP Smart Defender.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

%CommonPrograms%\XP Smart Defender\XP Smart Defender Help and Support.lnk

File name: %CommonPrograms%\XP Smart Defender\XP Smart Defender Help and Support.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

%CommonPrograms%\XP Smart Defender\XP Smart Defender.lnk

File name: %CommonPrograms%\XP Smart Defender\XP Smart Defender.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\Classes\.exe "Content Type" = 'application/x-m'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\DefaultIcon "(Default)" = '%1'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\open\command = ""%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\[RANDOM].exe" /ex "%1" %*"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\runas\command "IsolatedCommand" = '"%1" %*'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\runas\command = '"%1" %*'HKEY..\..\..\..{Subkeys}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exeHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\ [RANDOM_2]HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\DefaultIconHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shellHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\openHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\open\commandHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\runasHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\runas\commandHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\..{RunKeys}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run pcdfsvc = "%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\[RANDOM].exe /min"

Additional Information

The following messages's were detected:

#	Message
1	System Security Alert! Unknown program is scanning your system registry right now! Identify the theft detected!
2	System Security Alert! Vulnerabilities found Background scan for security breaches has been finished. Serious problems have been detected. Safeguard your system against exploits, malware and viruses right now by activating Proactive Defence.
3	XP Smart Defender Firewall Alert Iexplore.exe is infected with Trojan.JS.Fraud.ba. Private data can be stolen by third parties, including credit card details and passwords. Windows recommends activate XP Smart Defender

XP Smart Defender Pro