I wrote this article to help you remove Cobalt Virus. This Cobalt Virus removal guide works for all Windows versions.
Cobalt is the nth member of the Trojan horse family. If you are currently infected with it, you are in a very bad situation. The infection exploits a recently found document vulnerability (CVE-2017-11882). Even though Microsoft has already patched this security flaw, many computer users have not installed the newest security updates. If you are among them, it is time to take measures. Cobalt is a very dangerous virus. Hackers can use it to cause all kind of damage to you and your machine. This is a Trojan we are talking about. You can never know what a Trojan is doing or what it might do next. It all depends on what hackers need at the time. This is why this type of parasites are so hazardous.
Also, Cobalt is very secretive. It might spend quite some time in your system before you notice that there is something wrong. If you are already aware of the situation, consider yourself lucky. Take immediate measures against Cobalt. The more time it spends in your system, the more problems it causes. The pest is always running in the background as it loads together with your OS. Rebooting your computer will not help. The only way out is removal. Complete removal! So, do not waste any time and cut Cobalt`s stay as short as possible.
As we said, Cobalt runs together with your system and it is working non-stop. As a classic Trojan, it communicates with its developers via a Command and Control serves. This way, the crooks control everything. They can use the Trojan to disable your antivirus program and install more parasites on your system. Or, they can use it to turn your machine into a part of a botnet and use it for cyber-attacks, which is illegal. It all depends on their needs. If they want cyber currency, they can use the pest to turn your computer into a coin miner. The coin mining process is incredibly destructive for the PC that carries it out. That’s why crooks use yours. Moreover, Trojans like Cobalt serve as a backdoor to ransomware.
If the hackers need some instant cash, they can infect your machine with a file-encrypting virus and blackmail you for money. They can also spy on you and steal your private details. In addition, the presence of the Trojan alone causes your computer to underperform and crash all the time. The pest makes changes in your default settings and your programs fail to load properly. It is a real nightmare. And all of this because you didn’t install the latest security patch. Now you have to deal with these shenanigans. Follow our removal guide below and get rid of Cobalt ASAP. The sooner it is gone, the better.
How is Cobalt being spread online? Currently, the pest is targeting mostly Russian-speaking users via spam email messages. Hackers tend to write on the behalf of well-known companies, organizations, police departments, post offices, etc. in order to trick victims into opening the messages and downloading the attachment. Always proceed with caution when you receive an email from an unknown sender. Especially if it starts with “Dear friend/customer”.
Legitimate firms will always use your real name to address you. So, be careful. Check to see if the sender`s email address matched the address of the company the message claims to be from. If it doesn’t, you know what to do. Delete it immediately and do not download anything. Don’t make cybercriminals` job easier by being careless and distracted. This is what they are hoping for. Prove them wrong and keep your computer infection-free.
Cobalt Virus Removal
Run the Task Manager by right clicking on the Taskbar and choosing Start Task Manager.
Look carefully at the file names and descriptions of the running processes. If you find any suspicious one, search on Google for its name, or contact me directly to identify it. If you find a malware process, right-click on it and choose End task.
Open Control Panel by holding the Win Key and R together. Write appwiz.cpl in the field, then click OK.
Here, find any program you had no intention to install and uninstall it.
Open MS Config by holding the Win Key and R together. Type msconfig and hit Enter.
Go in the Startup tab and Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer.
Still can not remove Cobalt Virus from your computer? Please, leave a comment below, describing what steps you performed. I will answer promptly.