SpamBrief is a worm that may infect your computer through an attachment of an infected email message. SpamBrief uses Microsoft Outlook to send itself to all of the email addresses in your address book. The infected email sent by SpamBrief may have the subject line of “here comes the subject” and a body text of “here comes the body.” SpamBrief’s attachment may be named “virus.bat.” SpamBrief is written in Visual Basic Script.

Do You Have SpamBrief?

When you’re infected with badware — whether it’s SpamBrief, spyware, adware, a Trojan, or a virus — there are a few key symptoms. Have you noticed…

• Slow computer performance: It just takes one parasite like SpamBrief to slow your computer dramatically. If your PC takes longer than usual to reboot, or if your Internet connection is unusually slow, you may be infected with SpamBrief.
• New desktop shortcuts or switched homepage: Badware like SpamBrief may change your Internet settings to redirect your homepage to another site. Badware can even add desktop shortcuts to your PC.
• Annoying popups: Badware can bombard your computer with popup ads, even when you’re not online. Through these popups, you may be tricked into downloading more spyware.

How to Remove SpamBrief Manually

Before we get started, you should backup your system and your registry, so it’ll be easy to restore your computer if anything goes wrong.

To remove SpamBrief manually, you need to delete SpamBrief files. Not sure how to delete SpamBrief files? Click here, and I’ll show you. Otherwise, go ahead and…

Remove SpamBrief processes:

Note: In any SpamBrief files I mention above, “%UserProfile%” is a variable referring to your current user’s profile folder. If you’re using Windows NT/2000/XP, by default this is “C:\Documents and Settings\[CURRENT USER]” (e.g., “C:\Documents and Settings\JoeSmith”). If you have any questions about manual SpamBrief removal, go ahead and leave a comment.

How Do You Remove SpamBrief Files?

Need help figuring out how to delete SpamBrief files? While there’s some risk involved, and you should only manually remove SpamBrief files if you’re comfortable editing your system, you’ll find it’s fairly easy to delete SpamBrief files in Windows.

How to delete SpamBrief files in Windows XP and Vista:

1. Click your Windows Start menu, and then click “Search.”
2. A speech bubble will pop up asking you, “What do you want to search for?” Click “All files and folders.”
3. Type a SpamBrief file in the search box, and select “Local Hard Drives.”
4. Click “Search.” Once the file is found, delete it.

How to stop SpamBrief processes:

1. Click the Start menu, select Run.
2. Type taskmgr.exe into the the Run command box, and click “OK.” You can also launch the Task Manager by pressing keys CTRL + Shift + ESC.
3. Click Processes tab, and find SpamBrief processes.
4. Once you’ve found the SpamBrief processes, right-click them and select “End Process” to kill SpamBrief.

How to remove SpamBrief registry keys:

Because your registry is such a key piece of your Windows system, you should always backup your registry before you edit it. Editing your registry can be intimidating if you’re not a computer expert, and when you change or a delete a critical registry key or value, there’s a chance you may need to reinstall your entire system. Make sure your backup your registry before editing it.

1. Select your Windows menu “Start,” and click “Run.” An “Open” field will appear. Type “regedit” and click “OK” to open up your Registry Editor.
2. Registry Editor will open as a window with two panes. The left side Registry Editor’s window lets you select various registry keys, and the right side displays the registry values of the registry key you select.
3. To find a registry key, such as any SpamBrief registry keys, select “Edit,” then select “Find,” and in the search bar type any of SpamBrief’s registry keys.
4. As soon as SpamBrief registry key appears, you can delete the SpamBrief registry key by right-clicking it and selecting “Modify,” then clicking “Delete.”

How to delete SpamBrief DLL files:

1. First locate SpamBrief DLL files you want to delete. Open your Windows Start menu, then click “Run.” Type “cmd” in Run, and click “OK.”
2. To change your current directory, type “cd” in the command box, press your “Space” key, and enter the full directory where the SpamBrief DLL file is located. If you’re not sure if the SpamBrief DLL file is located in a particular directory, enter “dir” in the command box to display a directory’s contents. To go one directory back, enter “cd ..” in the command box and press “Enter.”
3. When you’ve located the SpamBrief DLL file you want to remove, type “regsvr32 /u SampleDLLName.dll” (e.g., “regsvr32 /u jl27script.dll”) and press your “Enter” key.

That’s it. If you want to restore any SpamBrief DLL file you removed, type “regsvr32 DLLJustDeleted.dll” (e.g., “regsvr32 jl27script.dll”) into your command box, and press your “Enter” key.

Did SpamBrief change your homepage?

1. Click Windows Start menu > Control Panel > Internet Options.
2. Under Home Page, select the General > Use Default.
3. Type in the URL you want as your home page (e.g., “http://www.homepage.com”).
4. Select Apply > OK.
5. You’ll want to open a fresh web page and make sure that your new default home page pops up.

SpamBrief Removal Tip

Is your computer acting funny after deleting any SpamBrief files? I recommend using a program like File Recover from PC Tools. File Recover saves deleted files that otherwise can’t be recovered by Windows operating sytem.

Want to save time finding SpamBrief files? Download Spyware Doctor, let it find the SpamBrief files for you, and then manually delete SpamBrief files.

How Did You Get SpamBrief?

Wondering how SpamBrief ended up on your PC? If you’re infected with SpamBrief or other badware, perhaps you were using…

• Freeware or shareware: Did you download and install shareware or freeware? These low-cost or free software applications may come bundled with spyware, adware, or programs like SpamBrief. Sometimes adware is attached to the free software to “pay” developers for the cost of creating the software, and more often spyware is secretly attached to free software to harm your computer and steal your personal and financial information.
• Peer-to-peer software: Do you use a peer-to-peer (P2P) program or other application with a shared network? When you use these applications, you put your system at risk for unknowingly downloading an infected file, including applications like SpamBrief.
• Questionable websites: Did you visit a website that’s of questionable nature? When you visit malicious sites that are fishy and phishy, badware may be automatically downloaded and installed onto your computer, sometimes including applications like SpamBrief. I recommend you use Firefox web browser, if you don’t already.

Understanding SpamBrief

If you’re infected with SpamBrief, you should know what you’re fighting. I’ll explain some definitions related to SpamBrief.

SpamBrief May Be a Worm

Worms are virus-like badware with destructive codes. Worms are able to mutate, or replace their own code by automatically, which makes worms very dangerous, difficult to find, and hard to delete. Similar to viruses, worms can spread to the other computers by secretly and automatically emailing themselves to other Internet users in your address book. The main difference between worms and viruses is that a worm wil replace your computer files rather than simply inserting their code into your files.

SpamBrief is also known as: Email-Worm.VBS.Spam.Brief, VBS.SpamBrief, Spam.Brief Email-Worm, Spam.Brief, I-Worm.Spam.Brief, VBS.Spam.Brief, VBS.SpamBrief-mm, Spam.Brief Worm, Worm.Spam.Brief