What is the Adware Vundo Variant?
The Adware "Vundo Variant", also known simply as "Vundo," refers to a program within the Vundo Family, also known as "Virtumonde." This program is often referred to as adware or malware because it can lock and damage your computer's operating system, as well as cause pop-ups that direct you to fraudulent anti-virus websites as part of a scam. It's important to remove this program as soon as possible.
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Vundo History
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The Vundo Family of malicious programs first appeared in 2004 as "Troj_Vundo_A." The program functioned in an adware and spyware capacity, monitoring the websites a user visited, and then reporting it back to a third party so that particular company could then market targeted products to the user. Since then, at least 2,000 Vundo variants have come out, and the number is growing.
Evasion
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One thing that makes Vundo adware particularly difficult to deal with, is that it is effective at hiding from anti-spyware solutions. It does this by downloading onto your computer once you go to a website that's designed to infect users. Then, it hides as a Windows Registry key, making it difficult for other programs to differentiate it from your computer's actual processes. This means that in order to remove this particular program manually, you must really know what you're doing or you could cause your computer damage.
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Anti-Virus
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One way to deal with Adware like a Vundo variant is by using an anti-virus program. In particular, you need one that features constant updates, since Vundo is constantly adapting and changing and coming out with new ways of avoiding those very types of programs. An example of one like this you can download for free, is Avira (see Resources). Vundo is one of those programs that gets identified as a virus, spyware, and adware, so any program that can deal with any of these problems will usually work. This is because Vundo can function much like a virus, but also can spy on your computer, and can focus on ads and marketing.
Vundo Fix
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Another option for dealing with Vundo is by downloading a program that was specifically designed for Vundo in particular. This program is appropriately named "Vundo Fix", and it can be downloaded for free. Once you've done so, you can use it to scan your computer for instances of any malicious programs that bear resemblance to something within the Vundo Family. Vundo Fix can then be made to eliminate these programs.
Anti-Spyware Programs
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Finally, software such as an anti-spyware program can also help. These programs are updated frequently, and have been warring with Vundo variant programs for a long time. An example of such a program is Spybot: Search and Destroy (see Resources). After updating the software, perform a scan on your computer to see if there are any Vundo variants or other threats there. Once found, the "Fix Selected Problems" button will allow you to eliminate those threats.
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