MZK
MZK is a highly dangerous piece of malicious code that is categorized by cyber security experts as a Trojan horse virus. MZK can be capable of a wide range of malicious tasks and it’s important to have it removed quickly.
The longer MZK is allowed to remain on your computer, the more damage it may potentially cause. As a typical Trojan horse representative, this variant is extremely stealthy and rarely if ever displays any detectable symptoms. This makes finding it and establishing its presence for the victim user quite difficult. And this is also why Trojans often manage to remain hidden over extensive periods of time deep within the infected system.
On occasion, however, Trojan horse infections do have symptoms. But the problem with them is that these same symptoms could signify a whole bunch of other problems that are completely unrelated to the virus. For example, depending on the processes that the Trojan is running, your computer may become extremely sluggish due to the excessive consumption of RAM and CPU. Furthermore, your PC may begin to experience frequent crashes, you might start seeing the BSoD very often, etc. But in the majority of cases, an infection with something like MZK will run symptomless.
This is also one of the qualities that has allowed Trojans to become as popular as they are today. As a matter of fact, the overwhelming majority of malware attacks are actually by this exact category of viruses.
And another factor that has contributed to this phenomenon is the multifaceted nature of these malicious pieces. A Trojan horse like MZK can easily be tasked with a whole plethora of harmful processes, some of which can have quite severe consequences on the victims.
For example, a Trojan horse virus like MZK can be used to steal your online banking details, your social media login credentials, sensitive email or other messaging correspondence, etc. And obviously, the hackers behind the virus infection may choose to use the obtained information however it pleases them, including to line their pockets, for blackmail or various forms of fraud. In that same line of thought, we should point out that Trojans are often used as a means of long-term spying on users. A variant like this can be used to hack into your webcam and microphone to eavesdrop on you and watch you without you even knowing it. Similarly, MZK may also record your keystrokes, so that way the hackers will know everything that you type with the help of your keyboard.
Other potential usages include the mining of cryptocurrencies on the victim’s computer, which is becoming increasingly popular. Or, which is another way that your system’s resources may be put to use for, MZK could be sending out spam from your machine, as well.
So as you can see, there’s plenty of terrifying options and that should serve as all the more reason to remove MZK from your PC as soon as possible. Below is a removal guide that can show you how to do this manually. But you can of course also use our professional removal tool to hand this process automatically.
SUMMARY:
MZK Virus Removal
If you are looking for a way to remove MZK you can try this:
- Click on the Start button in the bottom left corner of your Windows OS.
- Go to Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Uninstall a Program.
- Search for MZK and any other unfamiliar programs.
- Uninstall MZK as well as other suspicious programs.
Note that this might not get rid of MZK completely. For more detailed removal instructions follow the guide below.
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!
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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