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Spysheriff blocks my desktop background - how to remove Spysheriff
764 comments. Current rating: 
(301 votes). Leave comments and/ or rate it.
Question:
This morning I came to my computer and found an application named Spysheriff running. It supposedly had found a dozen of problems on my computer and demanded a purchase in order to remove them.It also had changed my desktop background image so that it looked like a error message (see the screenshot):
It tries to tell me that my computer is in really bad shape and I am in danger unless I pay them..
I tried to remove that desktop background image using the control panel but it is disabled! What can I do?
Answer:
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Spysheriff is malware and should not be used to clean a PC from spyware/ adware/ malware. It's pretty bad e.g. if you try to use System Restore you will find that Spysheriff erased your restore points, so that won't work. SpySheriff does come with an uninstall program which removes SpySheriff, but it will not undo all the other damage your computer has suffered. |
Instead follow these steps:
- Open task manager by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del, and click on the "Processes" tab. Look for Spysheriff there and kill the process if you see it. If you see a process named "winstall" (winstall.exe) then delete this one also.
- In the control panel goto "Add/ Remove Programs" and remove the "SpySheriff" program. If it says that it cannot uninstall, then you still have it running. It will uninstall once it's not running.
- Your desktop background will not be restored by that uninstall. Go into the registry by starting RegEdit.exe from the start button.
If your registry editor does not work, read this document "I cannot open the registry editor". - Look for this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop
It will have about 6 values stored that disable certain things. Delete this whole branch ActiveDesktop - the system will work with default values afterwards.
Also delete this branch in your registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System - Look in your root directory for a file named winstall.exe. Mine was in c:\ and 24064 Bytes in size.
This file is scheduled to execute each time you boot and it will re-install Spysheriff.
Delete that file.
Update:
As MG from Ottawa comments below, there may also be additional executable files that were created at the same time as winstall.exe. Those files may be named 'winstall.exe' and 'ibm00001.exe'. You should delete those files as well. If you have this file ibm0001.exe please see the other article regarding ibm0001.exe. - Restart your system.
Done.
Some people asked about the company that makes SpySheriff. This is their London address:
Company: SpySheriff Development Team Street address: Tooley 73a City: London Zip: EC1Y 1BL Country: United Kingdom |
Comments:
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thanks a lot. I had the same problem and was googling for a solution. It worked like a charm
regards, Rajeev. | ||
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Work perfekt.. Great job c',)
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everything went good until the end. I could not delete winstall.exe. message said 'access denied- make sure disk is not full or write protected and that file is not currently in use' can you help me. I am a computer illiterate! thanks Scott
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Your advice was awesome, thanks a lot. One thing i did that differed was that i unchecked winstall.exe and ibm00001.exe from coming up in the startup sequence (this can be seen by doing Start -> Run -> msconfig), which doesnt allow them to initialized and thus stops them from defending against their own deletion.
As well, in my root directory there were additional executable files that were created at the same time as winstall.exe; i deleted those as well, and subsequently ran a System Restore to a time 2 days earlier. Everything seems normal now. Thanks again, that SpySheriff was a pain. | ||
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Thanks alot and thanks to MG in Ottawa I had to do the same thing as you. I ran msconfig and I unchecked winstall.exe and ibm00001.exe then I set my System Restore to a time 2 days earlier and everything is as good as new. Thank-you.
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same: thanks a lot, something helped me, but what does this mean:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop It will have about 6 values stored that disable certain things. Delete this whole branch ActiveDesktop - the system will work with default values afterwards. Also delete this branch in your registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System | ||
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For 'tha runescaper':
That HKEY_CURRENT_USER stuff is an entry in the registry. You can view the registry by running start menu -> RUN -> Regedit [enter] Then select HKEY_CURRENT_USER and then the subfolders. These are actually not really folders as in a file system, I just use this term here. Be careful with deleting or other modifications as there is no trash can or other un-do option. | ||
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Thank you SO much I installed the spy sheriff when it told me that it would fix the problem and went on my other computer to look at price of it and found out it WAS the virus. I'm just glad that I looked at this site you gave saved me a lot of time because I was gettin ready to reformat when I couldnt figure out what was going on. Thanks again.
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Super
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Thanks .... What a pain it was .. and luckly found this site ... Followed your instructions and BAMMMM ... I'm back in business. You rock ... Big THANKS Again
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okay cool :) it worked for one time, but there are still 2 red cirkels with a white cross in it on the bottom right of my screen, HELP :)
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I'm just another satisfied and thankful customer!
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Very helpful, however when booting I still get the message ibm00001.exe not found. Any suggestions
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i did what was said but i still get one circle with x in task window, no longer get annoying desk top message but desktop is altered and when i go to internet still goes to c:\secure32.html. OMG this suxs
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