Windows Health Center is a rogue (fake) antivirus program that is distributed through the use of Microsoft Security Essentials Alert trojan. The trojan displays false information that states “Unknown Win32/Trojan was detected on your computer” and then will prompt you to perform a scan of your PC. It will report that your computer is infected with Trojan.Horse.Win32.PAV.64.a and suggest to install Windows Health Center. Remember, the fake antivirus is unable to detect or rid your system of parasites nor will be protect you from legitimate future threats. You need to remove Windows Health Center from your computer as quickly as possible!
During installation, the rogue will configure itself to start automatically every time, when your computer loads. Once the installation is complete, it will prompt you to reboot your PC. When Windows is rebooted, you will be shown the Windows Health Center prompt instead of your normal Windows desktop. But there is no any choice, only “OK” button is active. After click to it, this malware will imitate a system scan and list a lot of infections to trick you into thinking your PC is infected with all sorts of malicious software. It will report that was able to clean the majority of infected files, but was not able to cure a few important Windows files and offer to purchase a license of Windows Health Center to clean them. However, the scan results is a scam, because the program can`t detect any infections. So, do not pay for the bogus software, simply ignore all that the rogue will display you.
Windows Health Center will display numerous fake warnings and block legitimate Windows applications on your computer. The following warning will be shown when you attempt to run Task Manager:
Warning!
Name: taskmgr.exe
Name: C:WINDOWStaskmgr.exe
Application that seems to be a key-logger is detected. System information security is at risk. It is recommended to enable the security mode and run total System scanning.
Just like false scan results above, all of these alerts are a fake and supposed to scare you into thinking your computer is in danger. You should ignore all of them!
As you can see, Windows Health Center is a totally scam that hides your desktop, displays false information and detects fake infections. It created with one purpose to trick you into purchasing so-called “full” version of the program. Please use the removal guide below in order to remove Windows Health Center and any associated malware from your computer for free.
Screen shoots of Windows Health Center
Use the following instructions to remove Windows Health Center
Step 1. Stop Windows Health Center from “autorunning”
Once Windows loaded you will see a window similar to the one below.
Click OK button to allow Windows Health Center to perform a fake scan. Once scan is complete, it will state you need to open the License Manager. Press the OK, Open the license manager button. Now you can close the program. Click “X” button at the top-right of Windows Utility Tool or press ALT + F4. After that your Windows Desktop will be available.
Click Start, Type in search field (if you use Windows XP, then Click Start, Run and type in Open field):
%APPDATA%
Press Enter. It will open the contents of Application Data folder (for Windows XP) or the contents of Roaming folder (for Windows Vista, Windows 7) as shown in the screen below.
Contents of Application Data folder
Locate randomly named file (e.g. orlgh.exe or orlgh, look the example above), right click to it and select Rename. Type any new name (123.exe) and press Enter. Reboot your computer.
Step 3. Remove Windows Health Center associated malware
Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM). Close all programs and Windows on your computer.
Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
Once the program has loaded you will see window similar to the one below.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Window
Select Perform Quick Scan, then click Scan, it will start scanning your computer for Windows Health Center infection. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.
When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results. You will see a list of infected items similar as shown below. Note: list of infected items may be different than what is shown in the image below.
Malwarebytes Anti-malware, list of infected items
Make sure all entries have a checkmark at their far left and click “Remove Selected” button to remove Windows Health Center. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated Windows Health Center files and registry keys and add them to the programs’ quarantine. When MalwareBytes Anti-malware has finished removing the infection, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.
Windows Health Center removal notes
Note 1: if you can not download, install, run or update Malwarebytes Anti-malware, then follow the steps: Malwarebytes won`t install, run or update – How to fix it.
Note 2: if you need help with the instructions, then post your questions in our Spyware Removal forum.
Note 3: your current antispyware and antivirus software let the infection through ? Then you may want to consider purchasing the FULL version of MalwareBytes Anti-malware to protect your computer in the future.
Windows Health Center creates the following files and folders
%AppData%\{RANDOM}.exe
Windows Health Center creates the following registry keys and values
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon | Shell = “%AppData%\{random}.exe”
