Plant Extension Virus

Plant Extension

This page aims to help you remove Plant Extension virus. Our removal instructions work for every version of Windows.

Plant Extension
The Plant Extension virus

Trojans are among the most dangerous cyber threats and there’s hardly a computer user out there who isn’t aware of this. Yet despite their reputation preceding them, not much is really known to the masses about what exactly makes these viruses so dangerous. So, when people end up getting infected by a malicious program like Plant Extension or Energy.exe, which happens to be a Trojan horse, they often panic but don’t quite know what to expect. We are here to shine some light on the mystery of this malware category, but also provide a working solution for an ongoing infection with its latest representative – Plant Extension. Below the following article, you will find a detailed removal guide, containing step by step instructions on how to locate and remove this virus from your system. You can also use the professional removal tool if you would prefer to handle the infection automatically.

What are Trojans really capable of?

Typically, Trojans don’t exhibit any symptoms, which makes them notoriously difficult to detect, once they have already made it inside your system. Sometimes, their effects on your computer could result in certain system malfunctions, like frequent BSOD crashes, sluggishness, unauthorized actions on your computer, etc. All of this depends on the exact Trojan, its purpose and of course your computer and its technical specifications as well. In addition, viruses like Plant Extension can also fulfill a large variety of different malicious tasks. And this in turn makes it very difficult to say for sure what it could have been doing on your PC all along.

For example, one of the most common usages of Trojan horse viruses in general is as data thieves. They can employ a number of different techniques, even several at a time, to obtain sensitive and private information from the computers of their victims. We’re talking social media profiles, your online banking login details, passwords, credit card numbers, personal information, etc. Nothing is safe if a Trojan really wants to get hold of it and send back to its evil masters. Alternatively, Plant Extension could have also been programmed to delete something specific from your computer or even destroy your system for whatever reason.

Another popular thing hackers program viruses like Plant Extension for is spying on the victim users. They can again be after certain information, only this time it will most likely have to do with you as a physical person and that just makes the danger even more real. The criminals could watch you remotely with the help of your webcam and even listen to you by hacking your computer microphone. In addition, they can determine your location, watch what you do online by sharing your screen and even keep track of any correspondence of yours with the help of keystroke logging and other techniques. Other possibilities include exploiting your computer’s resources, for example. This can be done with the intention of distributing spam or even involving other computers in your network (alongside yours) in botnets. Furthermore, Trojans can also be set to mine cryptocurrencies on your PC and send them to the hackers. Alternatively, a virus like Plant Extension can even introduce other malware to your machine acting as a backdoor to it.

You can see that there are numerous possibilities, and none of them look particularly appealing, so it’s good that you were able to detect this Trojan already. And now that you have the tools to deal with it, it’s equally important that you learn to prevent such infections in the future. To do this you should first make sure that your system is adequately equipped to fight off viruses of this and other types. Be sure to have a good quality antivirus program running at all times, with all the latest virus definitions. In addition to that, be sure to have your Firewall switched on and keep your system up-to-date. Don’t postpone updates when they are made available, as you need them for a healthy OS. And last but by no means least, make sure to avoid the obvious malware sources out there. These are usually obscure websites distributing pirated or illegal content, adult websites, certain torrent and file-sharing platforms, etc. Furthermore, spam emails are as common a source as any, so be sure to keep your eyes open for those, too.

SUMMARY:

NamePlant Extension
TypeTrojan
Danger LevelHigh (Trojans are often used as a backdoor for Ransomware)
Symptoms Trojan horse viruses like Plant Extension don’t normally have any symptoms.
Distribution MethodMalicious online ads, spam emails containing links and/or attachments, infected websites, etc.
Detection Tool

Remove Plant Extension Virus 

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

 


Step1

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).

Step2

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. 

malware-start-taskbar

Right click on each of them and select Open File Location. Then scan the files with our free online virus scanner:

Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
This scanner is free and will always remain free for our website's users.
This file is not matched with any known malware in the database. You can either do a full real-time scan of the file or skip it to upload a new file. Doing a full scan with 64 antivirus programs can take up to 3-4 minutes per file.
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    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. 

    Step3

    Hold together the Start Key and R. Type appwiz.cpl –> OK.

    appwiz

    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:

    virus-removal1

    Step4

    Type msconfig in the search field and hit enter. A window will pop-up:

    msconfig_opt

    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:

    hosts_opt (1)

    If there are suspicious IPs below “Localhost” – write to us in the comments.

    Step5

    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 didn’t help you, download the anti-virus program we recommended or ask us in the comments for guidance!


    About the author

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    Violet George

    Violet is an active writer with a passion for all things cyber security. She enjoys helping victims of computer virus infections remove them and successfully deal with the aftermath of the attacks. But most importantly, Violet makes it her priority to spend time educating people on privacy issues and maintaining the safety of their computers. It is her firm belief that by spreading this information, she can empower web users to effectively protect their personal data and their devices from hackers and cybercriminals.

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