Detect and Remove a Keylogger on Your PC
Suspicious of someone keeping track of your online activities? It’s possible that keylogger software has been installed on your PC. Keyloggers are applications that secretly keep track of all your keystrokes. With this information, someone can retrieve your usernames, passwords and even discover important identity and financial information about you.
If you want to know how to detect the presence of a keylogger on your system and remove it, read on!
How to Find Keylogger Software on Your PC
- Right-click anywhere on your Taskbar and then click Task Manager. Look at the processes running and take note of any items that are suspicious. Note the process and search online for more information about it until you’re convinced it’s a valid process that should be running.
- Scan your PC for any files that look unusually big in file size. See if you can open the document and check its contents. If you can and the data looks suspicious, you’ve found the file generated by the keylogger. If you cannot open the document, note the name of the file and see if at the end of the day the file size got even bigger than before.
- Run an anti-spyware or antivirus program. Some keyloggers are listed in the spyware and virus databases maintained by antivirus programs so running them may reveal the keylogger.
- Use 3rd party software. Since keyloggers are meant to NOT be detected easily, it may be necessary to use a keylogger detection program. Such an application will go over your system and verify the presence a keylogger and provide details about its name, where it’s located on your system and so on.
How to Remove a Keylogger
- Search online for registry-related solutions. Assuming that you’ve discovered the name of the keylogger present on your system, you can then search online for possible solutions that may use the Windows registry.
You see, keyloggers, just like any software installed on your PC, make entries in the Windows registry so to remove them, you may have to manually edit the registry. However, a word of caution: editing the Windows registry is always tricky so be sure you trust the source of any registry-related edit instructions.
- Use an automatic keylogger uninstaller. If you’re sure there’s a keylogger installed on your system and don’t want to waste time getting rid of it, then a keylogger uninstaller is best for you.
After running the uninstaller though, check that the keylogger has been completely and thoroughly removed from your PC. How? Remember the name of the offending program (and any files created or associated with it). Run the uninstaller, restart your PC, and check if the keylogger and any associated files are gone.
If this article has helped you, please take this time to share it..
Post a Comment