RegHost
RegHost is a piece of malware that is typically distributed as a file that doesn’t look harmful so that most users do not suspect it is actually a virus. RegHost can be described as a Trojan Horse and it is a threat capable of many different harmful actions once it infects a given computer.
In case you have been searching for information on how to remove a Trojan Horse named RegHost from your computer, search no more. On this page, you will find a detailed removal guide with step-by-step instructions on how to locate and safely eliminate this nasty infection from your system. In the guide, you will also see a recommended professional RegHost Malware removal tool for automatic assistance.
But before you go straight to the guide, let’s start from the beginning: what is really a Trojan Horse and what can a threat like RegHost Malware do to a computer?
Trojans are a type of malware whose main purpose is to give remote access to a system and launch different harmful tasks on it. The name of those threats is inspired by the mythical wooden horse used by the Greeks to enter the seemingly invincible city of Troy without raising suspicions. Similarly, these malicious programs try to pass unnoticed, opening a backdoor for a remote attacker to enter the computer.
However, oftentimes, Trojans do more than just provide a backdoor – they are very versatile pieces of malware which can also be used to record keystrokes and visited pages, transfer data from the computer to remote servers, corrupt files, steal information, distribute other viruses, and especially Ransomware infections, create security holes, and much more.
And, as we said, the Trojan typically try to go unnoticed, so it would not be a huge surprise if a threat like RegHost shows absolutely no symptoms of its presence in the system for a long time. Basically, this type of malware is intended to hide processes that may make the user suspicious.
How? The infection is typically installed on the computer with administrator privileges or root permissions. This way, the hacker who controls it can have full control of the system and hide certain processes and files, prevent the antivirus from doing its job, skip, etc. This prevents you from detecting that there has been a compromise in your system, which makes it very difficult to locate and remove the Trojan on time.
How can we become infected?
There are so many ways in which a Trojan such as RegHost can get inside your machine. An infection can happen due to a vulnerability in a program that you have installed (such as Flash, Java, Adobe Reader) or if you download an infected file which, when opened, executes malicious code that silently installs the malware without your knowledge. The hackers usually use some seemingly harmless pieces of content such as images, email attachments, links, fake ads, misleading offers, or infected web pages, which, once interacted with, trigger the infection.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of symptoms, it may take you weeks or even months to realize that you have been compromised. That’s why the best method to protect yourself against Trojans and to detect and remove infections like RegHost Malware on time is to use reliable security software. A good antivirus can scan the system for malicious processes in the background and notify you about your system’s condition. There is no need to explain to you why you should take immediate action if a Trojan gets detected. The longer the malware remains in the computer, the greater the harm it may cause. That’s why you must not lose time and why you should follow the instructions below to quickly get rid of RegHost Malware.
SUMMARY:
| Name | RegHost |
| Type | Trojan |
| Detection Tool |
Remove RegHost Virus
If you have been infected with a Trojan, you may not know where to begin the cleanup process. It’s true that dealing with malware of this type may be tricky, therefore we’ve put up a comprehensive removal guide to help you. If you find any suspicious-looking programs on your computer, the first step is to remove them. You may get a more detailed explanation on that by reading the following instructions:.
- Click on the Start menu from the bottom-left corner of your screen.
- To open the Control Panel, type “Control Panel” into the search field and hit Enter. In the Programs and Features section, select Uninstall a Program.
- New window should open with a list of all applications currently installed on your computer.
- A virus scanner or an online search should be used to verify any suspicious-looking apps on the list.
- Remove all software and components that are associated with RegHost from your computer in order to get rid of it.
- Make sure you choose NO if you get this message when you try to uninstall a suspicious software, then follow the rest of the uninstallation instructions.
Aside from uninstalling any questionable programs, we highly recommend that you repeat the steps in this RegHost removal guide below in order to clean your computer completely. With their help, you’ll check the Registry, the Startup, and other essential system locations to make sure there are no traces of RegHost on the system.
First, restart your computer in Safe Mode to rapidly discover any suspicious behavior or programs that may be wreaking havoc on your computer.
Before that, however, click the Bookmark icon on your browser’s toolbar to save this page with RegHost removal instructions as a favorite. This will allow you to pick up right where you left off after the Safe Mode reboot, saving you both time and frustration.
WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!
It’s easy for the Trojan-based malware RegHost to hide its destructive activities under a slew of different disguises. To locate its malicious processes, open Task Manager (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) and click on Processes to see what processes are running in the background.
Processes consuming large amounts of CPU or Memory resources that aren’t associated with any of your typical applications should be researched. Be on the lookout for processes with unusual names, as well. To be on the safe side, don’t assume they’re named after the Trojan you’re trying to delete. Instead, right-click on any suspicious-looking processes and select “Open File Location” from the right-click menu is all it takes to check a specific process for malicious activity.
Once you’ve located the problematic files, use our free online virus scanning tool to scan them:
After the scan is complete, you will be able to remove any files that are found to be dangerous. To begin, right-click on the related process and select End Process from the context menu that appears. After that, go to the file location folder and remove the files that are flagged as dangerous.
The next step is to access System Configuration and hunt for any harmful startup items that RegHost may have installed without your awareness.
To do so, type msconfig in the Windows Search field and press Enter. You’ll save a lot of time by doing this. Next, check the startup items in the Startup tab for suspicious-looking RegHost-related entries.
You may also want to research specific startup entries online to find out more about their origin, manufacturer and associated programs. Then, based on the information you collect, you may need to disable this startup item if you have strong proof that it is associated with the Trojan. You can do that by simply unchecking its checkmark.
In this guide, the next step is to check your computer’s Hosts file for any changes. To do this, open the Run window by pressing Windows key and R at the same time and pasting the following command:
notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts
Find “Localhost” in the hosts file, and then see if some virus creator IP addresses have been added there:
If you see any unusual IPs in your Hosts file under “Localhost,” please let us know in the comments, so we can investigate them further. Once we’ve reviewed the IPs, we’ll be happy to assist you in determining the appropriate course of action.
Last but not least, remove any Trojan-related registry entries. This can be done by accessing the Registry Editor (type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter) and then carefully searching it for entries linked to RegHost.
You can save a lot of time and efforts if you open a Find window in the Registry Editor by pressing CTRL and F at the same time. RegHost-related entries can be found by typing the name of the Trojan in the Find box and then pressing the Find Next button. If there are results of the search, remove any files and folders with that name from your registry.
The Registry Editor’s left-hand panel may also be used to manually browse these locations for Trojan traces:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—–Random Directory
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—-Windows—CurrentVersion—Run– Random
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER—-Software—Microsoft—Internet Explorer—-Main—- Random
If you feel that a random-named registry entry is related to the Trojan, you should carefully delete it.
If you’re unsure which files to remove, you should run a scan with the anti-virus software indicated on this page. You may also use our free online virus scanner that scans individual files for the infection if you don’t want to remove any legitimate files. Please feel free to ask any questions or share any issues regarding the manual removal guide in the comments section below.
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