Hotfix.exe

It seems that more users are taking an active interest in protecting their PCs not only against the obvious known threats out there, but also to the more serious and often underreported threats to their security. If you are looking for an example, just take the harmful program Hotfix.exe as a case in point. It might sound unfamiliar to you, but Think Point certainly won’t. That’s because many security sites and companies concentrate on the main rogue behind all the fuss, in this case it being ThinkPoint. Yet the spiteful nature of the accompanying Hotfix.exe file is often ignored. In truth, Hotfix.exe is not only associated with ThinkPoint, but originates from the well known Microsoft Security Essentials Alert Trojan. Users will recognize many famous rogues as derivatives of Microsoft Security Essentials Alert. They include the infamous Red Cross Antivirus, the much hated Peak Protection 2010, the pesky Pest Detector 4.1, loathed Major Defense Kit, already mentioned ThinkPoint and the sly AntiSpySafeguard, or AntiSpy Safeguard, all making use of Hotfix.exe.

As an attempt at confusing security scanners, the developers of ThinkPoint and the other rogues used Hotfix.exe, which is a legitimate Windows utility. The Hotfix.exe referred to in this article has no association with Microsoft, and is nothing more than a clever attempt by cyber criminals to avoid detection. Once the PC is infected with Hotfix.exe, the user will receive incessant popup windows reporting on supposed system infections. These notifications all look quite legitimate, making it even more difficult for inexperienced users to recognize its fake qualities.

As time passes, Hotfix.exe will increase the frequency of these popup messages in an attempt to instill more panic into its intended targeted victims. It will become so bad that the user will be unable to make any use of his PC at all.

The only way to regain control of the system and to remove Hotfix.exe will be to make use of properly functioning antispyware software. By performing a deep system scan you will easily be able to permanently eradicate Hotfix.exe from the PC.