How to remove Affilred?

January 21st, 2008

What is Affilred?

Affilred (also known as WinSecure) is a browser hijacker, which blocks certain websites and redirects the browser to other predefined websites (one of them is specificsearches.com). It may also have the ability to monitor your online activity. Affilred must be installed manually and runs on startup.

Affilred is rather difficult to remove due to the fact that it creates files in many folders.

Affilred is Dangerous

Affilred is a parasitic Browser Hijacker

Affilred may show numerous annoying advertisements

Affilred logs your internet browsing history

Affilred will replace (hijack) your browser homepage

Affilred may spread additional spyware

Affilred violates your privacy and compromises your security

for Affilred
removal

Manual Affilred removal

Important Note: Although it is possible to manually remove Affilred, such activity can permanently damage your system if any mistakes are made in the process, as advanced spyware parasites are able to automatically repair themselves if not completely removed. Thus, manual spyware removal is recommended for experienced users only, such as IT specialists or highly qualified system administrators. For other users, we recommend using automatic spyware removal applications found on 2-viruses.com.

Stop these Affilred processes:

axe.exe, cab.exe, criticalupdate.exe, highspeed-cable.exe, iprotect.exe, mshotfix.exe, msupdate.exe, security32.exe, twain_32.exe, usbwin32.exe, winsecure.exe

Remove these Affilred Registry Entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Microsoft Cab Manager
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Microsoft Security Hot Fix Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\MSUpdate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\RegistryMonitor
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Windows Security Manager
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Windows Security Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices\WinTask
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit=%System%\userinit.exe, %Windir%\iprotect.exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\load\Memory Manager
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{1BB87441-6B7F-4B60-885C-B7AF9F9AFDE3}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD3A6AB4-5527-4B52-90AF-F90CD3270861}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{1BB87441-6B7F-4B60-885C-B7AF9F9AFDE3}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{0CDAAEC2-E245-44CC-8357-CAB70172D017}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{77566C2A-2987-44BC-AC81-A02D19EE271B}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{8E668361-C801-41B7-BF89-2FC2C8DE9167}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{C0DADD7E-D3F1-430D-B735-39DC6033592C}

Remove these Affilred files:

axe.exe, cab.exe, criticalupdate.exe, highspeed-cable.exe, iprotect.exe, mshotfix.exe, msupdate.exe, security32.exe, twain_32.exe, usbwin32.exe, winsecure.exe, comnt32.dll, inetconnect.dll, default.scr, memorymanager.pif, regisry.pif

for Affilred
removal

Affilred is classified as a Browser Hijacker, which means its parasitic damage payload consists of hijacking your browser homepage, error page, or search page with its own, mostly a commercial site of its creators, forcing you to accumulate force hits to a particular website to make it more popular or by using pay-per-click sites to earn money.

The easiest way for a Browser Hijacker such as Affilred to infect your computer is to exploit certain ActiveX controls and other security holes in your Internet Explorer browser. By browsing insecure websites on the internet, users may encounter various pop-ups, which secretly install Browser Hijackers like Affilred on your computer once clicked upon.

As soon as Affilred completes its operations, the overall browser stability and performance severely degrade, making it nearly impossible to surf the web normally.

How to tell if your PC has been infected by a Browser Hijacker such as Affilred?

Slow internet connection: Browser Helper Objects are constantly using your internet connection to send your private information to remote servers, as well as receive ads and pop-ups from third party servers, which causes much slower internet connection speed and overall connection instability.

Numerous undesirable and annoying pop-ups: A typical Browser Hijacker keeps track of your internet browsing habits, sending your browsing history data to remote servers, owned by third party companies that use this information to advertise their products via numerous pop-ups, toolbars, hijacked homepages and spam letters. All these undesirable advertising methods are used on the victims of Browser Hijackers.

How to remove Affilred?

What is Affilred?

Manual Affilred removal

How to tell if your PC has been infected by a Browser Hijacker such as Affilred?

Affilred removal quick links

Related parasites to Affilred