RiskWare.AutoKMS

Short bio

RiskWare.AutoKMS is Malwarebytes’ detection name for tools that are intended to enable the illegal use of Microsoft products like Windows and Office.

Type and source of infection

These tools are riskware. Riskware, in general, is a detection for items that are not strictly malicious, but pose some sort of risk for the user in another way. RiskWare.KMS is a tool used to activate a copy of the Windows OS software that is acquired illegally. Doing so is unlawful under almost all circumstances and could have legal repercussions. Also Windows may not be able to fetch updates so users can end up with an unpatched version of Windows.

The tools are often downloaded from sites of a shady nature.

Protection

Malwarebytes blocks RiskWare.AutoKMS

Remediation

Malwarebytes can detect and remove RiskWare.AutoKMS without further user interaction.

1. Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
2. Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
3. When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
4. Click on the Get started button.
5. Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
6. Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
7. Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.

Add an exclusion

Should users wish to keep this program and exclude it from being detected in future scans, they can add the program to the exclusions list. Here’s how to do it.

• Open Malwarebytes for Windows.
• Click the Detection History
• Click the Allow List
• To add an item to the Allow List, click Add.
• Select the exclusion type Allow a file or folder and use the Select a folder button to select the main folder for the software that you wish to keep.
• Repeat this for any secondary files or folder(s) that belong to the software.

If you want to allow the program to connect to the Internet, for example to fetch updates, also add an exclusion of the type Allow an application to connect to the internet and use the Browse button to select the file you wish to grant access.