How to remove Keylogger from a PC: your practical support guide

A keylogger is essentially a dangerous computer program meant to record every mouse movement and every keystroke movement made by a user on the keyboard. Therefore, the logged data is saved or sent over the Internet by the keylogger program to an already known remote host. Such a program runs silently in the background of the PC and uses a hardware device or a software application that the user is completely unaware of. Some of the keylogger programs are very advanced to capture all computer activities and even take screenshots of whatever information is on the screen. Also, these programs start automatically as soon as the PC is turned on without requiring user intervention at all.

How dangerous can a keylogger be?

A keylogger can be extremely dangerous as it records all key input movements on the keyboard. You may be banking online to send / receive payments or forward confidential attachments to your office; All personal or confidential information would be secretly passed on to the intended attacker, who would misuse it to steal money from your bank account or leak the confidential information to other sources.

Before following the instructions to delete keylogger files, we need to understand what kind of files they are and how to identify them. A keylogger file can have extensions such as “.exe”, “.dll”, “.Pif”, and “.scr”, and so on. .Exe files are the most common type of file used to communicate keylogger programs. .Scr files are more difficult to detect than .exe files.

Solution to fix everything

Below are the simple steps that should help you solve keylogger problems:

• Make sure your PC is up and running.
• Right click anywhere on your desktop taskbar, go to ‘Task Manager’.
• You can also press and hold the ‘Ctrl’, ‘Alt’ and ‘Delete’ keys together on the keyboard to access the ‘Task Manager’ window.
• When the ‘Task Manager’ window appears, click on the ‘Processes’ tab at the top.
• A list of all running or hidden programs will be completed, it will identify possible keylogger programs, if possible write it down and close the window.
• Then click on ‘Start’, go to ‘Control Panel’.
• A window containing various programs would be in front, then click on ‘Add or Remove Programs’.
• Select the already identified program, click ‘Change / Remove’ or just ‘Remove’ whichever option is there and follow the instructions to uninstall the program.
• Go back to the ‘Task Manager’ window and right click on the identified program.
• From the list of options, click on ‘Open Containing Folder’ and delete all files associated with the identity or name of the identified program.
• Locate your hard drive (C: ) with the help of the ‘Windows search tool’.
• Find all the files that resemble the same name as the keylogger program and delete them all from the hard drive and from the programs folder, be sure to delete all the keylogger files as they have multiple identities.
• Make sure the removal process is complete and then restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
• When the PC is up and running again, go to the ‘Start’ menu and then click ‘Run’.
• In the ‘Run’ window, enter ‘regedit’ and hit ‘OK’.
• The window will display all the registry entries on your PC, select the registry entries associated with the keylogger program and delete. (Most Imp: Before deleting registry entries, you should make sure you have a backup of your entire registry directory. Deleting important registry files would prevent your PC from working properly or cause a system crash).
• After cleaning the registry directory, restart your PC.
• When the PC is up and running again; Double check your ‘Task Manager’, startup settings, and log files to make sure the keylogger program has been completely removed from your PC.

The entire procedure requires a thorough understanding of the configuration and log files, etc. in addition to patience. However, it was the easiest process to solve the keylogger program, if you are still stuck in it then you had better contact a certified technical help and save your precious time. There are several third-party service providers that provide online technical support services.