How to remove Vidar Trojan

What is Vidar Trojan

Vidar is an information-stealing Trojan first identified in December 2018. It is believed to be a fork or evolution of the Arkei malware. Vidar is designed to exfiltrate a wide array of data from infected systems, including but not limited to banking information, cryptocurrency wallets, saved passwords, IP addresses, browser history, and login credentials. It can also take screenshots and steal data from browsers like Chrome, Opera, and Firefox, including those based on the Chromium engine. Vidar is sold as malware-as-a-service on the dark web, allowing cybercriminals to customize the types of information they wish to steal. Removing Vidar from an infected system requires a multi-step approach. First, it’s crucial to use a reputable antivirus or anti-malware tool to scan for and remove any traces of the Trojan. Manual removal can be complex and involves deleting malicious registry keys, files, and unregistering DLLs associated with Vidar. However, manual removal is not recommended for inexperienced users due to the risk of damaging the operating system.

How Vidar Trojan infected your system

Vidar primarily spreads through malvertising campaigns, where malicious advertisements redirect users to sites hosting the malware. It can also be distributed via spam email campaigns, malicious attachments, and through the use of exploit kits like the Fallout exploit kit, which targets vulnerabilities in software such as Flash Player and Internet Explorer. Additionally, Vidar has been observed being spread through fake websites and software downloads, including those masquerading as legitimate applications, facilitated by the abuse of Google Ads.

1. Download Vidar Trojan Removal Tool
2. Use Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool to remove Vidar Trojan
3. Use Autoruns to remove Vidar Trojan
4. Files, folders and registry keys of Vidar Trojan
5. Other aliases of Vidar Trojan
6. How to protect from threats, like Vidar Trojan

Remove Vidar Trojan manually

Manual removal of Vidar Trojan by inexperienced users may become a difficult task because it does not create entries in Add/Remove Programs under Control Panel, does not install browser extensions, and uses random file names. However, there are pre-installed instruments in the Windows system, that allow you to detect and remove malware without using third-party applications. One of them is Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. It comes with Windows Update in Windows 11, 10, 8. 8.1. For older operating system you can download it here: 64-bit version | 32-bit version.

Remove Vidar Trojan using Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

1. Type mrt in the search box near Start Menu.
2. Run mrt clicking on found item.
3. Click Next button.
4. Choose one of the scan modes Quick scan, Full scan, Customize scan (Full scan recommended).
5. Click Next button.
6. Click on View detailed results of the scan link to view the scan details.
7. Click Finish button.

Remove Vidar Trojan using Autoruns

Vidar Trojan often sets up to run at Windows startup as an Autorun entry or Scheduled task.

1. Download Autoruns using this link.
2. Extract the archive and run Autoruns.exe file.
3. In Options menu make sure there are checkboxes near Hide Empty Locations, Hide Microsoft Entries, and Hide Windows Entries.
4. Search for suspicious entries with weird names or running from locations like: C:\{username}\AppData\Roaming.
5. Right-click on suspicious entry and choose Delete. This will prevent the threat to run at startup.
6. Switch to Scheduled Tasks tab and do the same.
7. To remove files themselves, click on suspicious entries and choose Jump to Entry…. Remove files or registry keys found.

Remove files, folder and registry keys of Vidar Trojan

Vidar Trojan files and folders


{randomname}.exe


Vidar Trojan registry keys


no information


Aliases of Vidar Trojan

How to protect from threats, like Vidar Trojan, in future

Standard Windows protection or any decent third-party antivirus (Norton, Avast, Kaspersky) should be able to detect and remove Vidar Trojan. However, if you got infected with Vidar Trojan with existing and updated security software, you may consider changing it. To feel safe and protect your PC from Vidar Trojan on all levels (browser, e-mail attachments, Word or Excel scripts, file system) we recommend a leading provider of internet security solutions – BitDefender. Its solutions both for home and business users proved to be one of the most advanced and effective. Choose and get your BitDefender protection via the button below: