Remove Autohotkey Trojan

This article can help you to remove Autohotkey Virus. The step by step removal works for every version of Microsoft Windows.

Autohotkey is a scripting language, used for mouse and keyboard control. Its functions are often misinterpreted by the anti-virus software and are often flagged as Trojan influence. Unfortunately, the numerous false positives gave the crooks an idea. A new Trojan horse, known as Autohotkey Trojan, takes advantage of the confusion. It slips into your computer and corrupts everything. The virus modifies your Registry, corrupts essential directories and starts its own processes. This parasite is sneaky, meddlesome and unpredictable. Once successfully established, it takes control of your user experience. The parasite interferes with every aspect of your day to day browsing activities. It bombards you adverts, opens fake warnings, redirects your web traffic and covers your screen with pop-ups. To make the matters worse, it affects your computer’s performance and Internet connections speed. This intruder is also behind the numerous program failures too. Unfortunately, these annoying issues are nothing compared to the things the Trojan does in the shadows. No one knows what’s happening behind your back. The thing about Trojan horses is that these parasites are multifunctional. Its owners can control them remotely and thus, affect their individual victims differently. The owners of Autohotkey Trojan can instruct it to carry out various malicious processes. They may spy on you, further infect your device or even destroy your system. Do not wait to see what the future holds. Take action now. Autohotkey Trojan has no place on your computer. Remove it the first chance you get.

How did I get infected with?

To enter your computer, Autohotkey actually used trickery. It lured you into installing it. You either clicked on a corrupted link, downloaded a fake update or installed a malicious software bundle. All these distribution techniques share a common need – to succeed, they all rely on your carelessness and naivety. Your caution, on the other hand, can prevent them from succeeding. Do not make the crooks’ job easier. Stay always from shady websites. Download your software from reputable sources only. Forget about the “Next-Next-Finish” installation strategy. If available, always select the Advanced/Custom installation option. And, of course, don’t skip the terms and conditions/EULA. If you cannot spend enough time to read the whole document, use an online EULA analyzer to scan it. If you detect anything out of the ordinary, abort the installation immediately. Also, do not underestimate the spam emails. The good old spam messages are still the number one cause of virus infections. If you receive an unexpected message, take a moment to verify it. You can enter the sender’s address into a search engine. If it was used for shady business, someone might have complained. If the letter is supposed to be sent from an organization, go to their official website. Compare the email addresses listed there with the one you’ve received a message from. If they don’t match, delete the pretender immediately!

Why is this dangerous?

The Autohotkey Trojan should not be underestimated. This parasite corrupts your entire system. It can alter your system settings, modify your Registry, disable your anti-virus app. It is a serious breach of your security. Other viruses and malware may use it to infect your device. The nasty intruder is very likely to install other parasites like adware, hijackers, spyware, worms, and even ransomware. What will happen to your computer depends on the hackers and their current needs. The Trojan is a great tool is its owners’ arsenal. They can use it to cause severe damage. They may steal sensitive information about you and use it to blackmail you. Can you imagine what may happen if the hackers discover your usernames, passwords, name, addresses, or credit card details? They can drain your bank account in seconds. They can use the information for various malicious purposes. They may even “share” it with third parties. You are dealing with cybercriminals. You cannot win against them. Your best course of action is the immediate removal the virus. Do not waste your time. Act now or you may regret it later.

Manual Autohotkey Removal Instructions

The Autohotkey infection is specifically designed to make money to its creators one way or another. The specialists from various antivirus companies like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, ESET, etc. advise that there is no harmless virus.

If you perform exactly the steps below you should be able to remove the Autohotkey infection. Please, follow the procedures in the exact order. Please, consider to print this guide or have another computer at your disposal. You will NOT need any USB sticks or CDs.

STEP 1: Track down Autohotkey related processes in the computer memory

STEP 2: Locate Autohotkey startup location

STEP 3: Delete Autohotkey traces from Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer

STEP 4: Undo the damage done by the virus

STEP 1: Track down Autohotkey related processes in the computer memory

• Open your Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
• Carefully review all processes and stop the suspicious ones.

• Write down the file location for later reference.

Step 2: Locate Autohotkey startup location

Reveal Hidden Files

• Open any folder
• Click on “Organize” button
  
• Choose “Folder and Search Options”
• Select the “View” tab
• Select “Show hidden files and folders” option
• Uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”
• Click “Apply” and “OK” button

Clean Autohotkey virus from the windows registry

• Once the operating system loads press simultaneously the Windows Logo Button and the R key.

• A dialog box should open. Type “Regedit”

• WARNING! be very careful when editing the Microsoft Windows Registry as this may render the system broken.

Depending on your OS (x86 or x64) navigate to:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

• and delete the display Name: [RANDOM]

• Then open your explorer and navigate to: %appdata% folder and delete the malicious executable.

Clean your HOSTS file to avoid unwanted browser redirection

Navigate to %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/host

If you are hacked, there will be foreign IPs addresses connected to you at the bottom. Take a look below:

Step 4: Undo the possible damage done by Autohotkey

This particular Virus may alter your DNS settings.

Attention! this can break your internet connection. Before you change your DNS settings to use Google Public DNS for Autohotkey, be sure to write down the current server addresses on a piece of paper.

To fix the damage done by the virus you need to do the following.

• Click the Windows Start button to open the Start Menu, type control panel in the search box and select Control Panel in the results displayed above.
• go to Network and Internet
• then Network and Sharing Center
• then Change Adapter Settings
• Right-click on your active internet connection and click properties. Under the Networking tab, find Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Left click on it and then click on properties. Both options should be automatic! By default it should be set to “Obtain an IP address automatically” and the second one to “Obtain DNS server address automatically!” If they are not just change them, however if you are part of a domain network you should contact your Domain Administrator to set these settings, otherwise the internet connection will break!!!

 

• Check your scheduled tasks to make sure the virus will not download itself again.

How to Permanently Remove Autohotkey Virus (automatic) Removal Guide

Please, have in mind that once you are infected with a single virus, it compromises your whole system or network and let all doors wide open for many other infections. To make sure manual removal is successful, we recommend to use a free scanner of any professional antimalware program to identify possible virus leftovers or temporary files.