Manual Removal Guide for HardInstall.FakeAdobeFlash

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "HardInstall.FakeAdobeFlash" manually.
Use this guide at your own risk; software should usually be better suited to remove malware, since it is able to look deeper.

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Threat Details:

Categories:

• trojan

Description:

HardInstall.FakeAdobeFlash pretends to be a Adobe Flash update to get executed. It installs HardInstall system start entries and tries to install an extension for Google Chrome. It also changes the Windows Explorer policies.

Removal Instructions:

Autorun:

Please use Spybot-S&D, RunAlyzer or msconfig.exe to remove the following autorun entries.

• Entries named "HardInstallsilent" and pointing to "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\Install\hardinstall-silent.exe".
• Entries named "HardInstall-silent" and pointing to "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\Install\hardinstall-silent.exe".

Important: There are more autorun entries that cannot be safely described in simple words. Please use Spybot-S&D to remove them.

Files:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these files.

• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\Install\hardinstall-silent.exe".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If HardInstall.FakeAdobeFlash uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify files!

Important: There are more files that cannot be safely described in simple words. Please use Spybot-S&D to remove them.

Folders:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these folders.

• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\gfdifeicmijiobaflmbcnohpplhiipka".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\Install\files\gfdifeicmijiobaflmbcnohpplhiipka".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If HardInstall.FakeAdobeFlash uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify folders!

Registry:

You can use regedit.exe (included in Windows) to locate and delete these registry entries.

• Delete the registry key "Caphyon" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\".

If HardInstall.FakeAdobeFlash uses rootkit technologies, use our RegAlyzer, RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.

Final Words:

If neither Spybot-S&D nor self help did resolve the issue or you would prefer one on one help,

1. Please read these instructions before requesting assistance,
2. Then start your own thread in the Malware Removal Forum where a volunteer analyst will advise you as soon as available.