Samsung does not install keyloggers on its laptops.
I repeat, Samsung does not install keyloggers on its laptops.
But that doesn't mean you won't encounter a keylogger in the future.
Hi, I'm Seth Rosenblatt, and today I'm going to show you how to detect and remove keyloggers, those programs that surreptitiously record every tap of the keyboard for parents or your boss to pore over.
However, if you're not already familiar with mucking about in your computers registry and system directories,
you really ought to get some help with this.
Keyloggers are hard to uninstall because they intentionally hide themselves from the start menu and it's unlikely that you'll know the name of the program.
So, if you suspect you're being tracked with one, start off by grabbing Security Task Manager from download.com.
Once installed, it will tell you information about each running process and it will specify if they're dangerous or not.
Note that it may not have rated all processes that are running,
so you may have to research each one online to make sure they're safe.
If a dangerous process is detected, you can end the process from within Security Task Manager.
Now, do not restart your computer, otherwise, the keylogger will start again.
The next step is to run a full scan from your antivirus program.
Most AVs, like AVG, Avast, or Avira, will detect keyloggers and quarantine them for you.
Make sure it's up to date, of course.
If your AV doesn't detect it and you're absolutely positive you've been tracked by a keylogger,
there are some more invasive techniques we can use, although they require knowing the name of the logger.
First, look for its registry key which is used to load it when Windows is started.
Open a command prompt and type "run regedit." Go to the menu bar, select Edit, then Find, and the name of your keylogger.
The search should turn up a registry key like this one.
Delete all the keys that turn up from the search.
Next, we have to make sure that the keylogger's executable files are removed.
Go to Windows Explorer and hit the Alt key to bring up the menu bar.
Go to Tools, Folder Options, and View.
Under Advanced Settings, you'll see an option for hidden files and folders.
Make sure that Show is checked and then search for the name of the keylogger.
This could be as easy as searching for its name, although some keyloggers, like StarLogger, abbreviate its folder name to just the initials SL.
Next, you want to unregister the keylogger's DLL file.
Open a command prompt and navigate to the folder containing the DLL.
Then type "regsvr32 /u" and then the file name of the DLL without the quotes and brackets and you should see a popup window telling you that the file has been successfully unregistered.
At this point, you may have to check the registry again
to ensure that the registry key was deleted.
Restart your computer and, once more, check the registry and your Windows system folder to make sure that the keylogger is gone.
Finally, you ought to have a clean bill of health.
Actually, the double check after rebooting is the second-to-last thing you have to do.
The final step is to figure out who put the keylogger on your computer.
Good luck with that.
For CNET, I'm Seth Rosenblatt.
