What is Nail.exe?
Introduction
Nail.EXE, also known as "Aurora" or "Win32.Stervis.b", or "Adware.BetterInternet" or "http error 404" is a malicious Hijacker program belonging to a company called Direct Revenue. Nail.EXE is a hijacker that causes your Internet Explorer to assume a new default homepage. It will also download more nasty things on to your PC.
Technical Information
The NAIL.EXE program dropped on your PC causes advertising popups. When this spyware or Trojan is installed on your PC, it will intermittantly change your Internet Explorer settings including your homepage. This is known as Hijacking. Other programs may be associated with Nail.exe so you may also find svcproc.exe, susp.exe, mmzoq.exe, farmmext.exe, Belt.EXE, BTGrab.DLL, Belt.exe, Bi.DLL, ceres.dll, banner.dll and many associated .ini and .inf files on your system.
The Nail.EXE program runs as a hidden process on your computer so you may not see nail.exe as a task but the file will exist typically in the c:\windows directory. Deleting the file alone will not fix the problem.
The removal of Nail.EXE is not difficult but typically there are other files involved and the removal may be more complicated. There are nail.exe removal programs available which may or may not clean up everything.
This Adware or Trojan also plays with the following registry entry...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\LastKnownGoodRecovery\LastGood
and will try to keep itself installed even though you use the system's last good known starting point. The nail.exe also tries to connect to the following domains in order to update itself.
- abetterinternet.com
- stop-popup-ads-now.com
The nail.exe Trojan or Adware once installed will do the following...
Detection
This Trojan or Spyware can be detected with popular and up-to-date Anti-spyware programs and anti-virus programs.
Method of Infection
The program is installed on your PC from certain websites and requires your consent to be installed.
Summary
If your homepage is hijacked and your computer is running slower in general, it is a possibility you may have Nail.EXE on your PC. It is usually bundled with other programs and downloaded from the internet. If you are having difficulty removing this program, then the experts at support.com can remove it for you.
