Blackworm: what it is and how to remove it

If you did not install Blackworm yourself and it is not part of your hardware or a program you rely on, yes. Uninstalling an unwanted program does not harm Windows. Before you do, search the exact name and publisher to be sure it is not a driver tool, a printer utility or a game launcher with an odd name.

Then remove it from Settings, Apps, Installed apps. Ignore any offers or warnings in its uninstaller about losing protection or performance. Afterwards check Startup apps and your browsers for leftovers, and restart once to confirm that it does not reinstall itself.

Most unwanted programs arrive through installers, so the fix is in how you install software. Download programs from their official sites or the Microsoft Store, not from download portals or ads above search results. During setup, choose Custom or Advanced installation and untick every extra offer, including browsers, toolbars and optimizers.

Decline update prompts that appear inside other programs unless you know them. In Windows Security, turn on reputation-based protection and potentially unwanted app blocking. These steps would most likely have stopped Blackworm before it reached the app list.

In everyday language, yes: Blackworm is malware, a program that runs without your consent. More precisely, the reports point to a worm, based on what people saw: blackworm in the list of installed apps. It is not part of Windows and no legitimate program behaves this way while hiding from the user.

It should be removed, and the PC checked for other programs that may have come with it. Because there is no public analysis yet, we cannot list everything it does; the removal plan in this guide is written to cover the usual places this kind of malware uses to start and hide.

Only if the signs point to deeper access. Reset when you see blackworm in the list of installed apps again after removal, when Windows Security cannot start or update, when remote access tools you did not install keep appearing, or when you simply cannot trust the PC any more.

Otherwise, the plan in this guide plus an offline scan is enough. If you do reset, choose Remove everything and Cloud download for a fresh copy of Windows, restore only documents and photos, and reinstall programs from their official sites. Change important passwords from the clean system afterwards.

There is no evidence either way yet, because Blackworm has not been analysed in public. The reported sign, blackworm in the list of installed apps, does not show theft by itself. However, malware of this kind is often installed together with a password stealer, which works in seconds and leaves nothing to see.

The cautious approach costs little: once the PC is clean, change the passwords saved in your browsers from another device, starting with e-mail, then banking and payment accounts. Sign out of all sessions and turn on two-step verification. If a bank card was saved in the browser, ask the bank about a replacement.

Let Windows Security handle it instead. When it finds Blackworm, choose Remove or Quarantine; the scanner also removes related startup entries and tasks that a manual delete would miss. Deleting a running file by hand often fails, and many threats restore themselves from a second copy.

After the removal, run the Microsoft Defender offline scan, which works before Windows starts and catches parts that hide while Windows runs. Then check Task Scheduler for leftovers. Restart afterwards and check that the detection does not return.

We cannot name a source for Blackworm yet, because no one has traced its distribution in public. In the cases we see, a worm most often comes with pirated software, activators, game mods and cheats, or with downloads from sites that repackage free programs.

Removable drives are another route for self-spreading kinds. Your own history is the best clue: what did you install or plug in shortly before you first noticed blackworm in the list of installed apps? Whatever it was should be removed together with the malware and never reinstalled from the same place.

Usually not. USB worms hide the real folders and put shortcuts with the same names in their place. After scanning the drive on a cleaned PC, open it in File Explorer, choose View > Show > Hidden items, and your folders appear, faded.

Clear their Hidden attribute in Properties, delete the shortcuts and any unknown script files, then scan once more. Copy important files to a safe place before using the drive again. If anything is missing, a data recovery tool run from the cleaned PC may still find it.

It is a good idea, even for malware that does not spread by itself. The same download, USB stick or loader may have been used on other PCs in the household, and shared folders can carry files between them.

Run a full scan followed by the Microsoft Defender offline scan on each Windows PC that shared drives or files with the infected one. Do not copy programs or installers from the infected PC until it is clean, and change Wi-Fi and router passwords if they were saved on it.

Fortect scans Windows for malware and unwanted programs and repairs the system files and settings they change, and its free scan shows what it finds on your PC before you decide anything.

For Blackworm, follow the plan above as well: the browser steps take back permissions and settings that no scanner treats as a threat, and uninstalling the program that brought it removes the source.

Run Microsoft Defender's full scan and, if anything was found, its offline scan as a second opinion. If the symptoms are gone after the plan and both scans are clean, there is nothing more to do.