Smart Protection 2012 is a newly-appeared fake anti-virus application, which belongs to the same rogue family as Security Sphere 2012. These fraudulent programs are also called scareware, because they use scare tactics in order to force through their phony full versions.

Hackers use two methods to transmit the Smart Protection 2012 infection. The first one is the advertising method – online scanners are placed on malicious websites. If the user is lured to click on them, they prompt him/her to download the fake program’s trial version. Therefor, it is highly recommended not to download any unknown programs unless you have checked online whether they are legitimate or not.

The second method spreading Smart Protection 2012, however, is more sneaky – Trojans are laid in compromised websites. Only a click on the website triggers them. They enter the targeted machine without the victim’s knowledge, through vulnerabilities in the computer system, which are caused by outdated programs. It is highly advisable that you keep all your software updated by downloading the updates of the products only from their official websites. When the Trojans manage to get inside, they immediately bring the rogue in, as well.

Upon its installation, Smart Protection 2012 creates a random folder that varies in accordance with the Windows OS used by the victim. If it is XP, the folder is set in c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\, and if it is Windows Vsita/ Windows 7 – in C:\ProgramData. After that, the rogue configures itself to start automatically every time Windows starts.

As soon as it settles into the system, Smart Protection 2012 starts producing fake alerts and notifications with scaring information, warning about serious security threats:

Smart Protection 2012 Warning
Your computer is still infected with dangerous viruses. Activate antivirus protection to prevent data loss and avoid theft of your credit card details.
Click here to activate protection.

Warning: Your computer is infected
Detected spyware infection!
Click this message to install the last update of security software…

Smart Protection 2012 Warning
Intercepting programs that may compromise your privacy and harm your system have been detected on your PC.
Click here to remove them immediately with Smart Protection 2012

Smart Protection 2012 also performs scans of the machine every time and again. Each scan comes up with the bogus conclusion that a number of viruses have attacked the PC. A whole list of them appears, which includes non-existing in the PC Trojans, Warms and other malware pieces. This strategy is used in order to lure the user into purchasing the full version of Smart Protection 2012, which is promoted in every possible way – at the end of each scan and with every fake warning. The truth, though, is that the “licenced” version of this application is just as inefficient when it comes to detecting and removing malware as the trial one, since both versions of Smart Protection 2012 are viruses.

Smart Protection 2012 also uses its own protection mechanism, which consists of blocking other programs that the user tries to start. Instead of launching the application, the user ends up with the following message on the screen:

Warning!
Application cannot be executed. The file notepad.exe is infected.
Please activate your antivirus software.

By preventing other software from being used, Smart Protection 2012 desperately attempts to disable your legitimate anti-virus tool in order not to be detected by it. In the meantime, all the fake alerts continue to pop-up all the time. Thus, together with the frightening scans and blocked programs, Smart Protection 2012 manages to make users believe they need its full version.

There is probably no need to say that Smart Protection 2012 is a great scam, created by hackers in order to gain profit from unsuspecting users. Do not let this mischievous program victimize you, but remove Smart Protection 2012 immediately with the help of genuine anti-virus software!

You can also try to manually remove this rogue by deleting its malicious files:

Delete these Smart Protection 2012 files:

%CommonAppData%\[random]\
%CommonAppData%\[random]\[random]
%CommonAppData%\[random]\[random].exe
%StartMenu%\Programs\Smart Protection 2012.lnk

Delete these Smart Protection 2012 registry entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce “[random]”

*SpyHunter’s free scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware suite to remove the malware threats.