Keylogger question

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I am going to look at a laptop that has a keylogger on it. The friend knows it has a keylogger on it placed by his ex. My question, if I create a second administrator account and then delete the first administrator account, would that remove the keylogger?

I know I can use a multitude of free tools like Adaware, spybot, paid for antivirus, malwarebytes etc etc or I can find and delete it using Hijackthis too as I am familiar with using it, but was just chewing on some other ways to do it.

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I highly recommend you try the Zemana Antilogger program available at http://www.zemana.com/antiloggeroverview.aspx . While there, just press the “Download the free 15-day trial” button; this program comes highly recommended on the Wilders Security Forums ( http://www.wilderssecurity.com ) .

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Thanks, but what do you think about setting up another admin account and deleting the infected one. Any Microsoft experts out there?

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I would guess it depends on how the program is designed and was actually installed. If it is like a rootkit then creating another account is worthless. I’d try to get rid of it rather than work around it.

Joe

--Joe

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It looks like what I am reading says zemana does not remove anything per the Wilders forum. It detects, it blocks, but it does not remove.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread/?t=250384&highlight=keylogger+removal
cutting edge = post
but there is a nice list of keylogger removal tools and excellent suggestions for other apps

Oh, thanks joe – root kits are commonly with them I am learning

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Setting up any account will not help.
You need to boot from a CD to prevent the keylogger running, then attempt to clean up the mess, or just back up the data and re-partition, format and re-install.

cheers, Paul

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My question, if I create a second administrator account and then delete the first administrator account, would that remove the keylogger?

I don’t see why it would. I imagine that the keylogger runs as a service for all users. But perhaps the data accumulated to this point is stored in the profile somewhere.

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I am going to look at a laptop that has a keylogger on it. The friend knows it has a keylogger on it placed by his ex. My question, if I create a second administrator account and then delete the first administrator account, would that remove the keylogger?

I know I can use a multitude of free tools like Adaware, spybot, paid for antivirus, malwarebytes etc etc or I can find and delete it using Hijackthis too as I am familiar with using it, but was just chewing on some other ways to do it.

Ex’s can be a very nasty business. What is to say your friends laptop is not totally compromised.

Total reformat and clean install from the grownd up.

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I agree with the reformat reinstall route. This will get rid of his keylogger problem and also give a lean and mean OS. Once you have everything set up and customized, consider Imaging. Read all about this in the Security and Backups forum.

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The question begs, why in the world would anyone NOT remove any keylogger program? I guess your “friend” can pretend to have a new lover so the ex will be jealous, or some other dumb thing. Just get rid of the keylogger.

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I am going to look at a laptop that has a keylogger on it. The friend knows it has a keylogger on it placed by his ex. My question, if I create a second administrator account and then delete the first administrator account, would that remove the keylogger?

I know I can use a multitude of free tools like Adaware, spybot, paid for antivirus, malwarebytes etc etc or I can find and delete it using Hijackthis too as I am familiar with using it, but was just chewing on some other ways to do it.

I have the same problem with the OP. Things are different that I am using a Mac. Is there anyway to know if my keystroke is being captured by some keylogger Mac or so?

I lost a password (got changed) and I’m afraid there might be a keylogger for Macinstalled in my Mac… (only use the pw in this Mac)

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Ada, Welcome to the Windows Secrets Lounge.

Unfortunately you might be better off posting this question to a Mac forum. There may be people here who can help, but everyone there might be able to help.

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Like others here have stated; not all keyloggers are malicious. Many employers use them to monitor their employees.
It would be helpfull to know the name of the software keylogger in question, or it’s parent security suite/bundle.

If the software in question is legitimate, one will most likely require a password to access or uninstall.
In the case of the MAC user, it would be best to post his/her question in a MAC specific forum, or the non Windows Operating System section
of this forum. But the overall knowledge userbase of this forum is based upon the Windows platforms.

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