Alias: Personal Internet Security 2011, Home Security Essentials

Description: Posted on: Oct 7, 2010 12:11am

Personal Internet Security 2011 is a new variant of Smart Engine, My Security Engine and Security Master AV. Personal Internet Security 2011 is a fake antivirus product which hijacks your computer and uses scare tactics to get you to purchase the full version. Just like its predecessors, Personal Internet Security 2011 is very good at eluding detection. In order for Personal Internet Security 2011 to stop you from removing it, it disables your existing antivirus and antispyware programs and blocks access to help forums and to major name brand antispyware and antivirus vendor websites. It can also disable Task Manager so that you don't shut it down manually. Additionally, Personal Internet Security 2011 modifies your 'hosts' file which basically hijacks your Internet connection. This can be used to block access to certain websites, and to re-direct your searches to websites of Personal Internet Security 2011's choice. Personal Internet Security 2011 adds several hundred entries to your registry under the 'Image File Execution Options' key. These entries are used to block access to several hundred programs.

Personal Internet Security 2011 occasionally harasses the user with warnings and messages saying that their computer is infected and is under attack from hackers. In most cases we have seen, Personal Internet Security 2011 was installed by a trojan or mistakenly downloaded from one of many fraudulent Fake Scanner Sites.

Personal Internet Security 2011 displays exaggerated fake scan results similar to this:





Personal Internet Security 2011 issues fake alert messages similar to those shown below:







If you are unable to run programs, this is because Personal Internet Security 2011 has disabled them.

Personal Internet Security 2011 Special Removal Instructions

IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU ARE ABLE TO RUN PROGRAMS ON THE INFECTED COMPUTER, START WITH 'STEP 1a' AND SKIP 'STEP 1b'.

IF YOU ARE ABLE UNABLE TO RUN PROGRAMS ON THE INFECTED COMPUTER, START FROM 'STEP 1b'.

Step 1a: Read IMPORTANT NOTE above! Download SpyNoMore onto the infected computer. If you are unable to download SpyNoMore directly onto the infected computer, you can download it to a clean computer and transfer it to the infected computer (by using a network or a flash drive).

Step 1b: Read IMPORTANT NOTE above! Download SpyNoMore onto the infected computer. If you are unable to download SpyNoMore directly onto the infected computer, you can download it to a clean computer and transfer it to the infected computer (by using a network or a flash drive). NOTE: This version of the installer will be named iexplore.exe.

Step 2: Double-click the downloaded file to install SpyNoMore on the infected computer. When the installation is completed, SpyNoMore will check for and download available updates which may alert Antivirus Studio 2010 to its presence at which point Personal Internet Security 2011 may shut down SpyNoMore. If SpyNoMore is shut down by the infection, simply restart SpyNoMore from the desktop shortcut.

Step 3: SNM will scan your computer and if Personal Internet Security 2011 is present, SNM will detect it and you will be able to see either Personal Internet Security 2011 or Smart Engine or Security Master AV in the scan results. These are the same rogue product. Please note that the free version of SpyNoMore will only show you the detections but will not remove them. In order to remove the infection you need to purchase a 1-year license which costs $29 (or $39 for 3 computers). In all cases, you will be able to see Personal Internet Security 2011 in the free version scan results.

Step 4: After the scan is complete and you are able to see Personal Internet Security 2011 in the scan results, you can purchase the activation key and proceed to remove the infection. If you are unable to purchase the activation key from the infected computer, you can do so from a clean computer by clicking on our Purchase link on spynomore.com. Simply write down the activation key and use it to activate SNM on the infected computer. This will remove Personal Internet Security 2011 and restore your internet connection. You will again be able to run your programs and applications without trouble.

Step 5 (optional): It would be a good idea to check your computer for rootkits (which are basically hidden trojans) which may have tagged along with Personal Internet Security 2011. To do so, download and run TDSSKiller by Kaspersky Labs.

Step 6 (optional): If TDSSKiller does find a rootkit, it will ask you to restart your computer so that it can remove the rootkit(s). After your computer restart, scan your computer once more with SpyNoMore to make sure everthing is OK.

Hint: If SpyNoMore is unable to download updates, click on SpyNoMore's 'Settings' button and uncheck the box that says 'Use Internet Explorer settings'.

Threat type:

Hijacker - A Hijacker is a software application that takes control of your browser's settings. Usually it changes your home page and redirects it to some unknown site or modifies your search settings. It prevents you from changing back your browser's settings. An infected browser usually operates much slower.

Ransomware - Ransomware is a software application that infects a computer and asks for money to have the infection removed.

Trojan - A Trojans or Trojan Horse is any programs that installs itself secretly normally via malware programs, quite often with sinister intent. Once installed, the trojan author (hacker) can gain complete control of the infected PC. Trojans are usually designed to steal sensitive information and/or destroy the system. Trojans can be distributed as unsolicited email attachments, or bundled with freeware and shareware programs.

Advice: Remove This is a very high risk threat and should be removed immediately as to prevent harm to your computer and / or to protect your privacy.

Detection:
SpyNoMore removes Personal Internet Security 2011: Yes

Threat risk: Very High Risk

Extremely dangerous malware. Uses stealth installation, randomly named entries and has the capability to self update or resurrect after incomplete removal. Almost impossible to remove manually. Category mostly consists of trojans and spyware.

Symptoms:

Personal Internet Security 2011 gets installed without your permission.

Inability to run programs.

You cannot simply uninstall Personal Internet Security 2011 as it is malware and does not come with an uninstaller.

Inability to open Task Manager.

A message "Warning! Virus detected. Trojan-Spy.HTML.Bankfraud.ra"

Personal Internet Security 2011 Signature Details: The following information includes some of the standard signatures associated with this spyware threat. Please do not attempt to manually remove these items from your computer; Removing these items incorrectly or partially can cause your computer to experience critical errors, prevent your computer from restarting or cause loss of Internet connectivity. Should you be infected with Personal Internet Security 2011, you can clean your computer by downloading SpyNoMore now.

Running Process Signatures:
N/A

File Signatures:
N/A

Registered Dll (Dynamic Link Library) Signatures:
N/A

Folder Signatures:
N/A

Registry Signatures:
N/A

SpyNoMore Collected Residual File Signatures:
N/A

See Also:
Shopcompareus.com
Info.com
Disk Repair
HDD Doctor
Antivirus Scan
FastDisk
DayKick.com
Palladium Pro
System Tool
Windows Utility Tool