What’s ThinkSmart?

ThinkSmart is a fake anti-Spyware program that is very similar to the look and behavior of its predecessor rogue application called ThinkPoint. ThinkSmart or Think Smart, uses aggressive techniques to make computer users think they have no choice but to purchase a full version of ThinkSmart in order to remove threats that it detected. ThinkSmart does not have the ability to detect or remove legitimate computer parasites. Fast scan your PC and remove ThinkSmart if you find it in your system.

ThinkSmart and its creator’s ultimate goal is to extort money from unsuspecting computer users. To further induce these mischievous actions, once ThinkSmart is installed computer users are greeted with several popup alerts and misleading warning messages. These notifications never cease to exist until ThinkSmart is completely removed from the system.

Computer users have reported cases of not being able to manually remove ThinkSmart due to its ability to block access to the Windows task manager. The file that users may encounter causing this to happen is known as hotfix.exe. To successfully manually remove ThinkSmart the hotfix.exe file must be stopped and removed first.

Some of the popup notifications coming from ThinkSmart may be disguised as a Microsoft Security Essentials Alert message coming directed from the ‘hotfix.exe’ or ‘mstsc.exe’ files. The best approach to prevent becoming a victim from ThinkSmart attacks is to use a good anti-malware application. This will ensure that new rogues such as ThinkSmart are detected and safely removed without causing additional damage to your computer.

Manually remove ThinkSmart

Step 1 : Use Windows Task Manager to Remove ThinkSmart Processes

Remove ThinkSmart processes files:

%LocAppData%\defender.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\hotfix.exe

Step 2 : Use Registry Editor to Remove ThinkSmart Registry Values

Locate and delete ThinkSmart registry entries:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “WarnonBadCertRecving” = “0″
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “tmp”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “thinksmart”
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “WarnOnPostRedirect” = “0″
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce “SelfdelNT”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PAV
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon “Shell” = “%LocAppData%\antispy.exe”
HKCU\Software\PAV
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon “Shell” = “%Documents and Settings%\[UserName]\Application Data\hotfix.exe”

Step 3 : Detect and Delete Other ThinkSmart Files

Remove ThinkSmart processes files:

%TempDir%\kjkkklklj.bat
%LocAppData%\defender.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\install
%UserProfile%\Application Data\hotfix.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\completescan

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