Posted: November 27, 2008/Under: Operating Systems/By: SY Tan

Users who have installed PC Defender 2008 are advised to remove this clone fake security application as soon as possible. On the surface, PC Defender 2008 claims and promotes itself as an anti-spyware security program that is able to scan and detect spyware, malware and other security problems. It offers online scanning to users. After scanning, it will alert users that their computer is infected by viruses and convince users to download and install the trial version of its PC Defender 2008 as a security solution. However, in fact this anti-spyware software is in fact a fake security application.

The application itself is a high risk malware which will continuously dupe users with deceptive warnings or false scan results to confuse users that their computers are infected with various viruses. Users will be flooded with warning messages such as “Critical System Error”, “Critical System Error”, “Hijacked homepage to obscure webpage”. Flashing icons appear on your system tray (Near your system clock), etc. It will thence slowly mislead users to purchase its software. PC Defender 2008 is an extremely high risk malware. Besides annoying users with false security alarms, it can severely compromise the security of users’ system. For instance, it can disable other security software, modify system files, open illicit network connections, use polymorphic tactics to self-mutate, self install other malware and steal users’ personal identifiable information.


PC Defender 2008 Screen Shoot

There are various ways to get rid of this fake and corruptible anti-spyware via removal tools or to remove it manually. To remove PC Defender 2008 manually, users can follow these steps:

Kill processes:
PCDefender2008.exe,
thcrkrj0etfg.exe
70C54A80d01.exe
thcr7cj0ea59.exe

Delete registry values:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\thcrkrj0etfg
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\thcrkrj0etfg
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\PostPlatform “pcdefender2008”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “SMthcrkrj0etfg”

Unregister DLLs:
MFC71.dll MFC71ENU.DLL msvcp71.dll msvcr71.dll

Delete files:
c:\\Program Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\database.dat c:\\Program Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\license.txt c:\\Program
Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\MFC71.dll c:\\Program Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\MFC71ENU.DLL c:\\Program
Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\msvcp71.dll c:\\Program Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\msvcr71.dll c:\\Program
Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\thcrkrj0etfg.exe c:\\Program Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\thcrkrj0etfg.exe.local c:\\Program
Files\\thcrkrj0etfg\\uninstall.exe 70C54A80d01.exe thcr7cj0ea59.exe

Delete directories:
c:\Program Files\thcrkrj0etfg
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC Defender 2008
%UserProfile%\Application Data\thcrkrj0etfg

If you prefer an easier and a more straight forward way, you can download one of these programs/ removal tools for PC Defender 2008 here:

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