How to Remove Altruistic Service Trojan: Complete Removal Guide

Altruistic Service (also known as Altruistics, Altrust, Altrustix, Altrisik, Alrustiq) is a dangerous trojan virus that can infiltrate your computer through deceptive means. This comprehensive guide will help you understand what the Altruistic trojan is, how it infects systems, and most importantly, how to remove it completely using the specialized Trojan Killer tool.

What is Altruistic Service Trojan?

Altruistic Service (commonly referred to as Altruistics) is a malicious trojan virus that disguises itself and bundles with seemingly legitimate software downloaded from unreliable sources. It’s designed to infiltrate your system stealthily and perform various harmful activities without your knowledge or consent.

This dangerous trojan can consume significant system resources, causing noticeable performance degradation. More alarmingly, it acts as a gateway for other malware to enter your system by potentially disabling or bypassing security features like Windows Defender.

Unlike banking trojans such as Zeus or Emotet that focus on stealing financial information, Altruistic primarily operates as resource-consuming malware that creates backdoors for additional infections.

Interesting Facts About Altruistic Trojan

• Altruistic trojan uses sophisticated techniques to hide its presence, making it difficult for standard antivirus solutions to detect it.
• The virus has several naming variations (Altrust, Altrustix, Altrisik, Alrustiq) which helps it evade signature-based detection.
• It can create persistent connections to command and control servers to receive instructions or updates from attackers.
• The trojan can monitor system activities and gather sensitive information about user behavior.
• Recent variants have been observed implementing anti-analysis techniques to avoid detection in virtual machine environments used by security researchers.

How Altruistic Service Trojan Spreads

The Altruistic trojan typically infiltrates systems through:

• Software bundling with free applications from unreliable sources
• Cracked or pirated software installations
• Malicious email attachments
• Fake software updates
• Compromised websites and drive-by downloads

Most commonly, users unknowingly install this trojan when they download and install free software without carefully reviewing the installation options, allowing bundled malware to be installed alongside the desired program.

This distribution method is similar to that used by PUADIManager:Win32/OfferCore, which also relies on deceptive software bundling to infiltrate systems.

Signs of Altruistic Service Trojan Infection

Be vigilant for these common symptoms of Altruistic trojan infection:

• Significant system slowdowns and frequent freezes
• Unusual high CPU and memory usage, especially from unknown processes
• Programs opening and closing spontaneously
• Difficulty accessing Windows Security or other security tools
• Unexpected network activity when not browsing
• Unknown programs appearing in your installed applications list
• Strange system behavior that cannot be explained by normal operations

Dangers of Altruistic Service Trojan

Altruistic trojan poses serious security risks as it can:

• Consume significant system resources, leading to poor performance
• Disable or bypass security features like Windows Defender
• Open backdoors for additional malware infections
• Gather sensitive information from your system
• Install additional unwanted or malicious programs
• Potentially lead to data loss or system corruption
• Allow remote access to your computer by attackers

By creating backdoors in your security, Altruistic can pave the way for more damaging threats like Dofoil, which can download and execute additional malicious files on your system.

How to Remove Altruistic Service Trojan

1. Removal Using Trojan Killer

Trojan Killer is specifically designed to remove complex trojans like Altruistic Service:

1. Download and install Trojan Killer from the official website
2. Run a system scan:
   • Launch the program with administrator privileges
   • Select full system scan
   • Wait for the process to complete (may take 30-60 minutes)
3. Review scan results:
   • The program will display a list of detected threats
   • Look for entries related to Altruistic, Altrustics, or other variants
4. Remove detected threats:
   • Select all detected Altruistic components
   • Click the “Remove Selected” button
5. Restart your computer to complete the removal process

2. Manual Removal

If you prefer manual removal, follow these steps carefully:

1. Boot your computer in Safe Mode with Networking:
   • Press and hold Shift while clicking Restart
   • Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart
   • After restart, press F5 for Safe Mode with Networking
2. Check installed programs and uninstall suspicious applications:
   • Open Control Panel and go to “Uninstall a program”
   • Look for recently installed unfamiliar programs
   • Uninstall any suspicious software, especially those you don’t remember installing
3. Terminate suspicious processes:
   • Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
   • Look for any processes named Altruistic, Altruistics.exe, or any other variant
   • Right-click on suspicious processes and select “Open file location”
   • End the process and delete the located files
4. Run Windows Defender offline scan:
   • Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security
   • Select Virus & threat protection
   • In the “Current threats” section, click “Scan options”
   • Select “Windows Defender Offline scan” and click “Scan now”

3. Additional Cleanup Steps

For more thorough removal, consider these additional steps:

1. Check for and remove suspicious scheduled tasks:
   • Open Task Scheduler by searching for it in the Start menu
   • Look through the tasks for any suspicious or unknown entries
   • Right-click and delete any tasks that appear related to Altruistic
2. Check startup items:
   • Open Task Manager and go to the Startup tab
   • Disable any suspicious entries by right-clicking and selecting “Disable”
3. Reset your browsers to remove any browser-related components

Preventing Altruistic Service Trojan Infection

To protect against Altruistic trojan and similar threats, follow these prevention measures:

• Only download software from official websites and trusted sources
• Always choose custom installation options to detect and decline bundled software
• Keep your operating system and all software updated with the latest security patches
• Use reliable antivirus and anti-malware solutions, such as Trojan Killer
• Avoid clicking on suspicious links or opening attachments from unknown senders
• Regularly scan your system for potential threats
• Create regular backups of important data to protect against data loss
• Be cautious with free software, particularly “cracked” or pirated programs

These preventative measures will also help protect against other threats like browser notification spam and information-stealing trojans that use various deceptive techniques to infect your system.

Technical Details of Altruistic Service Trojan

For security researchers and advanced users, here are some technical details about the Altruistic trojan:

• File Locations: Typically found in:
  • C:\Windows\System32\[random name].exe
  • C:\ProgramData\[random folder]
  • C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\[random folder]
• Registry Modifications: Creates run keys for persistence at:
  • HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
• Process Behavior: May disguise itself as a legitimate Windows process or use randomly generated names
• Network Activity: May establish connections to remote servers to receive commands or download additional payloads

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Altruistic trojan steal my personal data?

Yes, the Altruistic trojan and its variants are capable of collecting sensitive information from infected systems. While its primary function appears to be system resource consumption and creating backdoors for other malware, many variants have been observed monitoring user activities and potentially transmitting data to remote servers. This could include browsing habits, keystrokes, stored passwords, and other personally identifiable information. The best protection is prompt removal and implementing strong preventive measures.

Why does Altruistic use so many different names?

The multiple naming variations (Altruistics, Altrust, Altrustix, Altrisik, Alrustiq) serve several strategic purposes for the malware creators. First, it helps evade detection by signature-based antivirus solutions that might only recognize specific name patterns. Second, it complicates removal efforts by making it difficult for users to identify all components. Finally, it allows the malware to evolve while maintaining its core functionality. This naming strategy is common among sophisticated malware families that aim to persist on infected systems for extended periods.

How effective is Trojan Killer at removing Altruistic trojans?

Trojan Killer is specifically designed to combat evasive trojans like the Altruistic family. Its advanced detection engines use behavior analysis rather than relying solely on signatures, making it effective at identifying all variants of this trojan regardless of naming differences. The specialized removal algorithms ensure complete elimination of all associated components, including hidden files and registry entries that might be missed by general-purpose antivirus programs. For best results, run a full system scan and follow the recommended removal steps precisely.

Can my computer get re-infected after removing Altruistic?

Re-infection is possible if the original infection vector remains unaddressed. After successfully removing the Altruistic trojan, it’s crucial to identify how it initially infiltrated your system. If it came bundled with a particular software, avoid that download source in the future. Change all your important passwords after ensuring the system is clean, as credentials might have been compromised during the infection. Finally, implement the prevention measures outlined in this guide, particularly regarding cautious downloading practices and regular system scanning with Trojan Killer to prevent future infections.

Will removing Altruistic trojan fix my slow computer?

In most cases, successfully removing the Altruistic trojan will lead to noticeable performance improvements, as this malware is known to consume significant system resources. However, the extent of performance recovery depends on several factors: how long the infection persisted, whether other malware was installed through the backdoors it created, and your computer’s baseline performance. After removal, it’s advisable to run system maintenance tasks like disk cleanup and defragmentation (for HDDs). If performance issues persist despite successful malware removal, your system might benefit from hardware upgrades or professional servicing.