How to Remove Rustybuer Malware

What is Malware?

Malware, Malicious software, or "malware" for short is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile and intrusive software.

The term's original meaning was restricted to malicious software that causes deliberate harm to computer systems; however, the meaning has become blurred with time. The term now includes adware, spyware, viruses and worms regardless of whether they are harmful programs that are intended to damage computers.

How Does Malware Spread?

Malicious software most commonly enters computers in a number of ways—the three most prevalent forms being social engineering scams (e-mail attachments), drive-by downloads (such as downloading and installing infected media players or codecs), and web browser exploits (searches on popular websites).

How Does Rustybuer Malware Work?

Rustybuer malware blocks the user from accessing antivirus software, browser toolbars, and other security software. Rustybuer then deletes the system restore files and Registry entries for backup utilities. Rustybuer will then download more malware to replace Rustybuer. Rustybuer creates a temporary file on your desktop called "RustyRooter" in an effort to confuse you into thinking it was created by Microsoft.

Rustybuer is not just going to stop at giving you a warning that your computer is infected with malware; RustyBuer will also erase all of your data so that it can take over your computer completely for its own purposes. RustyBuer also tries to download malware from its server, which provides multiple ads and popups.

How to Remove Rustybuer Malware

This is one of the most difficult malware removal cases because RustyBuer has taken so many steps to conceal itself. Usually, like other malware variant, Rustybuer runs in stealth mode, meaning it will not show up on your computer as a program that is running.

Rustybuer does this to avoid detection from your antivirus software and any other security software installed on your computer. The first step while removing RustyBuer malware is to stop its process by killing its tasks or programs that are running in the background on Windows Task Manager or Command Prompt window. RustyBuer then creates a file called "RustyRooter" on your desktop to confuse you into thinking it was created by Microsoft.

To stop RustyBuer from running on your computer, you can follow the steps below:

Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to access Task Manager or right click on the Start icon in Windows 8 screen and select "Task Manager". Then click on the "Processes" tab. Scroll through the list of processes until you find one that says "RustyRooter." Once you find it under the list of processes, right click on it and select "End Process Tree." Killing its process can stop Rustybuer from running in stealth mode.

Your next step is to find the process Explorer.exe, which is the component of Windows that allows you to browse the files on your computer by double-clicking on its file location in your Start menu.

Right-click on your Computer (the Start button) in the bottom left hand corner of your screen and select "Explore." Click on "Local Disk (C:) Users\Public\Software" or "Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data" depending on whether the viruses have infected all users' folders or different types of files respectively. Right-click on any file called "explorer" inside this folder. Select Properties from the contextual menu then External Tools tab. Under this tab, go to "Open" button and select the empty box next to "Command" and enter taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe in the space provided. This will kill Explorer.exe from running in your computer.

An anti-malware scan is the next step in removing RustyBuer virus. Launch your anti-malware software then do a threat scan by clicking on the "Scan" tab. Select which hard drive you want to scan, whether it is the one where your Windows operating system is installed or any other external storage device connected to the computer. The threat scan may take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours depending on how many files you have and how big they are. When the process is finished, click on "Show results" button in order to display all the threats detected by your security software.

How to Protect My Computer From Malware

To protect yourself from RustyBuer malware, you must keep Windows up-to-date, make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date, and make sure your firewall is on. If you have any security software, turn it on to its highest setting because RustyBuer can sometimes disable security software if it's not up to date. Change all of your passwords after RustyBuer has infected you for extra protection.