WinHound
WinHound Removal Guide
What is WinHound?
WinHound is a trojan, which silently installs itself to vulnerable computers by exploiting certain system or web browser security flaws. It can also be dropped by some parasites. Once executed, WinHound installs several other dangerous threats, changes the Internet Explorer default home page and the desktop wallpaper. The new wallpaper warns the user that the system is infected with spyware and asks to download and install WinHound, which is a corrupt illegally distributed anti-spyware program. The modified start page may redirect the user to insecure advertising web sites. The trojan can use a rootkit to cloak its files, running processes and other related objects. WinHound automatically runs on every Windows startup.
WinHound does not produce false positives, provides updates and indeed finds well-known and widely spread spyware and adware parasites. Nevertheless, we DO NOT recommend purchasing and using this product.
The program is being promoted through aggressive and deceptive advertisements. Some insecure web sites and certain parasites illegally install WinHound to numerous computers without user knowledge and explicit consent by exploiting certain system vulnerabilities. Furthermore, WinHound is dropped by several hijackers and trojans that change the web browser's default settings, redirect the user to undesirable web sites and continuously serve unsolicited commercial advertisements and pop-ups. Although we are not sure who actually is responsible for such WinHound distribution and installation methods, we surmise that the application's vendor or its affiliates are trying to promote and sell the product that way.
It seems that WinHound uses components of PSGuard, another infamous corrupt spyware remover. Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta1 and some other reliable tools detect files installed by WinHound as PSGuard objects.
Free version of WinHound refuses to remove any parasites it finds. It asks to register and purchase the full product. The program is prone to mislead the user. Even if it did not detect any malware, it still displays a warning message saying that “This computer is infected with malicious ware, and your system security is at serious risk.”
How to prevent from getting trojans
Access your website securely from any location
When you work on the domain, site, blog, or different project that requires constant management, content creation, or coding, you may need to connect to the server and content management service more often. The best solution for creating a tighter network could be a dedicated/fixed IP address.
If you make your IP address static and set to your device, you can connect to the CMS from any location and do not create any additional issues for the server or network manager that needs to monitor connections and activities. VPN software providers like Private Internet Access can help you with such settings and offer the option to control the online reputation and manage projects easily from any part of the world.
Recover files after data-affecting malware attacks
While much of the data can be accidentally deleted due to various reasons, malware is one of the main culprits that can cause loss of pictures, documents, videos, and other important files. More serious malware infections lead to significant data loss when your documents, system files, and images get encrypted. In particular, ransomware is is a type of malware that focuses on such functions, so your files become useless without an ability to access them.
Even though there is little to no possibility to recover after file-locking threats, some applications have features for data recovery in the system. In some cases, Data Recovery Pro can also help to recover at least some portion of your data after data-locking virus infection or general cyber infection.