How to Remove SoftStronghold | Soft Stronghold Removal Guide
SoftStronghold is the latest rogue antivirus application in the LONG line of Wini rogues… Softveteran was the most recent (see the softveteran removal guide) but…. SoftCop (see the SoftCop removal guide.) But, the line goes much further back…. Softsoldier (How to remove SoftSoldier), ( TrustFighter TrustFighter Removal Guide, TrustSoldier removal guide and the following others… SafeFighter (Safefighter Removal), TrustCop (TrustCop Removal Guide), SecureWarrior (SecureWarrior Removal), SecurityFighter (SecurityFighter Removal), SecuritySoldier (SecuritySoldier Removal) and it also has gone under yet other names. Like all the others it raises warnings about files that it either brings or creates and falsifies many fears that your system is in grave danger. Read on for how to remove SoftStronghold.
First off, pick up a copy of malwarebytes antimalware from my virus removal toolkit page. (Go ahead and get process explorer too just in case). If you are really luck you may go to the control panel, add/remove programs and uninstall softstronghold. I suspect that won’t get rid of it though, I’ve rarely had one uninstall this easily.
The next thing that you should try is to install, update and run malwarebytes antimalware. Unfortunately most of these rogues will prevent security software like this from running. For this reason you may have to try the following tricks. 1) rename the install file for malware bytes to something else. It likely came as mbam-setup.exe – rename it to henry.exe and try running the installer and then updating. 2) reboot into safe mode and run the installer 3) follow the next steps of manual removal and after killing off the running processes associated with softstronghold then retry the install of malwarebytes.
Next use the task manager to kill off the following processes associated with SoftStronghold: If you are unable to launch task manager you have a few options. 1) copy, paste and rename the program file for task manager (taskmgr.exe) to another filename 2) use process explorer (mentioned above) to find and terminate the following running processes:
SoftStronghold.exe
uninstall.exe
*You may also look for randomized filenames matching those that you find based on the information below.
The following files and folders will need to be removed for a manual removal of softstronghold:
%docs%\All Users\Desktop\SoftStronghold.lnk
%docs%\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\SoftStronghold
%docs%\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\SoftStronghold\1 SoftStronghold.lnk
%docs%\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\SoftStronghold\2 Homepage.lnk
%docs%\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\SoftStronghold\3 Uninstall.lnk
%progfiles%\SoftStronghold Software
%progfiles%\SoftStronghold Software\SoftStronghold
%progfiles%\SoftStronghold Software\SoftStronghold\SoftStronghold.exe
%progfiles%\SoftStronghold Software\SoftStronghold\uninstall.exe
%win%\10246h9zktool4d5.exe
%win%\1045ztroj92a.ocx
%win%\10520hac5too979z.bin
%win%\system32\20151worm9z4.ocx
%win%\system32\205z0sp95ad.exe
%win%\system32\2069sz5mbot179.dll
%tmp%\akx4.tmp.exe
The above filenames are randomized and will vary from system to system. Use the above information to identify those files on your system and then you will be able to locate the names that this rogue has given the files in your install. After you have managed even the best manual removal of a softstronghold you should run an install of malwarebytes antimalware and update and scan your machine as well as a trusted antivirus product to make sure that you have completed the softstronghold removal.