SecretCrush Removal Process

January 5, 2008 – 11:25 am

SecretCrush is a new Internet hijacker that targets social-networking sites such as Facebook, which is a form of fake malicious code engineered by Internet hackers. It will redirect your homepage to “www.secret-crush.com” and generate false and misleading system error messages so Internet users would purchase the software, which is obviously a rogue anti-spyware itself. Do NOT purchase SecretCrush under any circumstances since it is not a legit anti-spyware software.

The following process will help you remove it from your system easily and safely.

SecretCrush Manual Removal Process:

1. Click on the Start Menu button, then click on the Control Panel option, and then Double-click on the Add or Remove Programs icon.

2. Locate SecretCrush and double-click on it to uninstall SecretCrush. Follow the screen step-by-step screen instructions to complete uninstallation of SecretCrush. Do not worry about this if you cannot find it in Add/Remove window. Simply skip to #5.

3. Restart the computer.

4. When it has completed uninstalling you can close Add or Remove Programs and your Control Panel.

5. Close all programs.

6. Search and delete the following infected entries in registry. If you do not know how to edit registry, click here to read more.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\SecretCrush

7. Stop SecretCrush process. If you do not know how to stop a running process, click here to read more.

8. Find and delete the following infected files from your system. Don’t worry if you don’t find these files. Just proceed to next step.

wupeng.exe
e404d.dll

If you do not know how to find it or having difficulties locating the file, click here to read more.

9. Rename the files that you found above to “foundbadfile1.dll” and “foundbadfile2.dll” (if you can not rename this file, then try to restart your computer in safe mode then try to rename this file.) If you don’t know how to start the computer in safe mode, click here to read more.

10. Go to C:\Program Files\ folder and delete the “SecretCrush” folder (if you can’t delete it, reboot your computer to safe mode then delete the folder. Do not worry about it if you can’t find this folder.)

11. Click here to bookmark this page (you will need to comeback to this page after reboot)
(If you are using Firefox click on Ctrl+D on your keyboard to bookmark this page)

12. Restart your computer

13. Go to your computer and delete the “foundbadfile1.dll” and “foundbadfile2.dll” file.

14. Restore your Internet Explorer home page. Go to Tools -> Internet Options, under “Home page” field, type whichever website you want to set as homepage, which is the start-up page for your Internet Explorer. By default, type “http://www.msn.com” or “http://www.google.com”. Then click “OK” to apply for the changes.

15. You have just removed SecretCrush from your computer manually.

Remove SecretCrush with SmithfraudFix:

SmithfraudFix is a free tool that S!Ri created to remove fake anti-spyware programs. It can be risky so we cannot guarantee the result. Please use it with reservations. We would never recommend to purchase anything unless it’s necessary. That’s why we produce this free removal process.

1. Download SmithfraudFix tool and save it to your desktop.

2. Restart your computer and boot into Safe Mode. If you don’t know how to start the computer in safe mode, click here to read more.

3. Double-click on the SmithfraudFix.exe icon then follow the screen instructions. Option #2 should be selected in this case.

4. When you are prompted with “Do you want to clean the registry ?”, simply answer “Y”.

5. Reboot.

6. You should have removed SecretCrush from your computer. Sometimes it might take more than once to work properly. If SmithfraudFix removal tool does not work, which is in no-guarantee due to the nature of spyware, please refer to the manual removal steps above or purchase a legitimate removal tool if necessary.

(Disclaimers: These instructions are free and not guaranteed to work. Please use it at your own risks. We are not responsible for any damages.)