What is Acwzmain.accde ?
Acwzmain.accde is a legitimate Microsoft Windows file that can be found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\ACCWIZ\ACWZMAIN.ACCDE. Sometimes, trojans find their way to infect such files and stay hidden under the antivirus programs radar. One such example is when Acwzmain.accde is linked to the recent malware threat called O97m/Mamacse.f
Recently, our “How to remove” team has received numerous reports of people claiming that their computer has been infected by some sort of a “virus” which goes by the name of Acwzmain.accde. Some of the users have reported that they have started to experience some unusual system activity such as sudden crashes, sluggishness and unusual software errors. However, in some cases, this infection may have no symptoms at all. This is because Acwzmain.accde is not a regular virus but a nasty Trojan Horse infection which can sneak in the PC silently and run multiple malicious activities in the background. As most threats of its category, this piece of malware is designed to stay in the system for as long as possible and to secretly launch harmful processes and tasks that serve the needs of the criminal hackers who stand behind the infection. Before you know it, Acwzmain.accde may have managed to collect information about your passwords and login credentials, and may have handed it over to the crooks or it may have made some modifications to your system’s registry and software. But this is not the worst a virus like this may be capable of – Trojans like this one can create security holes by blocking the protection of your security program and inviting other nasty infections such as Ransomware or Spyware in the system without your knowledge. They may also corrupt your data, delete and replace files or format the hard drives in no time. That’s why, if you have the slightest doubt that you might have been infected with a threat of this kind, it is best to read this article to the end and check your system for its hidden presence.
Acwzmain.accde Trojan (O97m/Mamacse.f)
But, how do you know if your PC has really been compromised by a Trojan like O97m/Mamacse.f or “Drive-by exploit” and how to remove the malware program once and for all? Well, there are some common symptoms that you should keep an eye out for in order to catch such threats before they damage your machine in an irreversible way. For instance, it is a good idea to observe the system’s performance and notice if it starts to experience sudden productivity drops and sluggishness. If your computer is struggling to run programs that have previously run smoothly, or if the system is running a lot of background stuff that you do not know the origin of or do not remember having installed, this could be a sign of some unauthorized background activity. Another possible symptom could be that your antivirus or system-maintenance programs may not work or may not be able to complete a system scan properly. This is because one of the first things that many Trojans do when sneaking in a computer is they block the processes of programs that can help identify and remove them. So if you find that programs like your antivirus, your online security tools or your scanner apps are not working properly, then this should be seen as a major red flag that something may be wrong with the computer. Sadly, some advanced Trojan-based infections, including the O97m/Mamacse.f Trojan, may have no symptoms at all until they complete their criminal agenda, which makes them extremely harmful and difficult to detect and remove.
So, what to do?
Well, before you go to the extreme measure of reinstalling your OS, there are a few steps that may help you catch and remove the Trojan virus without need for anything drastic. If you don’t know where to start, take a look at the removal guide below and use its instructions to get an idea on how to effectively deal with your problem.
SUMMARY:
| Name | Acwzmain.accde |
| Type | Trojan |
| Danger Level | High (Trojans are often used as a backdoor for Ransomware) |
| Symptoms | Trojans normally don’t show visible symptoms of their presence and are difficult to detect without professional software. |
| Distribution Method | Spam, infected emails, malicious ads, cracked software, pirated content, torrents, illegal websites. |
Acwzmain.accde Trojan Virus Removal
1: Preparations
Note: Before you go any further, we advise you to bookmark this page or have it open on a separate device such as your smartphone or another PC. Some of the steps might require you to exit your browser on this PC.
2: Task Manager
Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to enter the Task Manager. Go to the Tab labeled Processes (Details for Win 8/10). Carefully look through the list of processes that are currently active on you PC.
If any of them seems shady, consumes too much RAM/CPU or has some strange description or no description at all, right-click on it, select Open File Location and delete everything there.
Also, even if you do not delete the files, be sure to stop the process by right-clicking on it and selecting End Process.
3: IP related to Acwzmain.accde
Go to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Open the hosts file with notepad.
Find where it says Localhost and take a look below that.
If you see any IP addresses there (below Localhost) send them to us here, in the comments since they might be coming from the Acwzmain.accde.
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4: Disable Startup programs
Re-open the Start Menu and type msconfig.
Click on the first search result. In the next window, go to the Startup tab. If you are on Win 10, it will send you to the Startup part of the task manager instead, as in the picture:
If you see any sketchy/shady looking entries in the list with an unknown manufacturer or a manufacturer name that looks suspicious as there could be a link between them and Acwzmain.accde , disable those programs and select OK.
5: Registry Editor
Press Windows key + R and in the resulting window type regedit.
Now, press Ctrl + F and type the name of the virus.
Delete everything that gets found. If you are not sure about whether to delete something, do not hesitate to ask us in the comments. Keep in mind that if you delete the wrong thing, you might cause all sorts of issues to your PC.
6: Deleting potentially malicious data – Acwzmain.accde
Type each of the following locations in the Windows search box and hit enter to open the locations:
%AppData%
%LocalAppData%
%ProgramData%
%WinDir%
%Temp%
Delete everything you see in Temp linked to Acwzmain.accde. About the other folders, sort their contents by date and delete only the most recent entries. As always, if you are not sure about something, write to us in the comment section.
