OFFER*Source of claim SH can remove it.
Ducktail
Ducktail is a relatively new Trojan horse virus that’s been identified by security researchers. And as such, Ducktail is by default considered to be a highly dangerous threat that must be removed immediately upon detection.
Dozens of computer threats of the Trojan horse family are released pretty much every week and as a result of that, thousands of computers get infected by these nasty criminal programs. One of the more recent examples is the insidious Ducktail. This is a new Trojan infection and the security experts are still researching it in order to obtain a better understanding of what it does and how it can be counteracted. Unfortunately, since the Trojan is very new, the information about it is still incomplete and there are many things we do not yet know about it.
However, there’s also a lot we can still tell you about Ducktail and we may even be able to help those of you who have had their computers attacked by the nefarious Trojan horse. Before we show you the removal instructions we’ve prepared for our visitors who have Ducktail on their computers, we must first tell you a bit more about the Trojan itself.
A very important thing to keep in mind is that this threat may not have one single goal but instead may potentially be used for the completion of multiple tasks. The versatility of the Trojan horse threats is well known among software security specialists and it is assumed that Ducktail is no exception.
This virus may be capable of harming your personal data that you keep on the attacked machine, it may also format your whole hard drives, spy on your online and offline activities and even sneak ransomware, rootkits and other additional malware programs inside your system. Those are, of course, only a few examples and by no means a full list of the potential abilities of a malware threat like this one. In order to prevent any of those nasty things happening to your computer, we advise you to quickly read and apply our guide that you will see right below in case you think that Ducktail may have attacked your system.
The stealthiness of the Trojans
The thing that allows these threats to enter so many computers without getting detected is their use of many different forms of disguise. A virus like Ducktail or Altrustics will not show its true nature to you until it has made sure that its task has been fully completed (and maybe not even after that). There are all kinds of tricks and techniques the criminal creators of such viruses use to ensure their malicious program reaches as many users as possible.
Some of the more popular ones are the spam e-mails, the malvertising ads that are normally distributed by sketchy and obscure sites, the pirated programs and games and many, many more. Although you can never be fully certain that a given ad or a program download isn’t infected, you can still greatly decrease the chances of landing a Trojan in the future if you make sure to never go to sites that have a questionable or bad reputation. Opening the links and file attachments added to spam messages and clicking on random obscure ads on the Internet is also inadvisable if you want to keep your computer safe, so keep that in mind as well.
SUMMARY:
| Name | Ducktail |
| Type | Trojan |
| Danger Level | High (Trojans are often used as a backdoor for Ransomware) |
| Symptoms | Many Trojans tend to cause a slowdown in the computer and also crashes, freezes and errors. |
| Distribution Method | Illegal sites and sites that distribute pirated content is what most hackers rely on in order to spread Trojans. |
| Detection Tool | We tested that SpyHunter successfully removes parasite* and we recommend downloading it. Manual removal may take hours, it can harm your system if you re not careful, and parasite may reinstall itself at the end if you don't delete its core files. |
*Source of claim SH can remove it.
Remove Ducktail Malware
If you have a Windows virus, continue with the guide below.
If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.
If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.
If you have an iPhone virus, please use our iPhone Virus Removal guide
Some of the steps will likely require you to exit the page. Bookmark it for later reference.
Reboot in Safe Mode (use this guide if you don’t know how to do it).
WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!
*Source of claim SH can remove it.
Press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC at the same time and go to the Processes Tab. Try to determine which processes are dangerous.
Right click on each of them and select Open File Location. Then scan the files with our free online virus scanner:
After you open their folder, end the processes that are infected, then delete their folders.
Note: If you are sure something is part of the infection – delete it, even if the scanner doesn’t flag it. No anti-virus program can detect all infections.
Hold together the Start Key and R. Type appwiz.cpl –> OK.
You are now in the Control Panel. Look for suspicious entries. Uninstall it/them. If you see a screen like this when you click Uninstall, choose NO:
Type msconfig in the search field and hit enter. A window will pop-up:
Startup —> Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer or otherwise look suspicious.
- Remember this step – if you have reason to believe a bigger threat (like ransomware) is on your PC, check everything here.
Hold the Start Key and R – copy + paste the following and click OK:
notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts
A new file will open. If you are hacked, there will be a bunch of other IPs connected to you at the bottom. Look at the image below:
If there are suspicious IPs below “Localhost” – write to us in the comments.
Type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter.
Once inside, press CTRL and F together and type the virus’s Name. Right click and delete any entries you find with a similar name. If they don’t show up this way, go manually to these directories and delete/uninstall them:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—–Random Directory. It could be any one of them – ask us if you can’t discern which ones are malicious.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—-Windows—CurrentVersion—Run– Random
HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—Internet Explorer—-Main—- Random
If the guide doesn’t help, download the anti-virus program we recommended or try our free online virus scanner. Also, you can always ask us in the comments for help!
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