Brendan Smith

Brendan Smith has spent over 15 years knee-deep in cybersecurity, chasing down malware from the gritty reverse-engineering of old-school trojans all the way to wrangling full-blown incident responses for small-to-medium businesses that couldn’t afford a full-blown breach. Over at Gridinsoft, he’s the guy piecing together those double-checked guides on nasty stuff like AsyncRAT, a remote access tool used in malware campaigns—helping readers make sense of the threat and work through cleanup without the extra headache.
Cybersecurity Analyst
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686 Articles

Windows Script Host “Can Not Find Script File” at Startup: Fix

Fix a Windows Script Host missing-file popup by tracing the startup entry…

Brendan Smith

Microsoft Defender Offline Scan Not Working: No Restart or No Results

Fix a Microsoft Defender Offline scan that does not start, only restarts…

Brendan Smith

Proxy Server Keeps Turning On in Windows 11: Find What Enables It

Windows 11 proxy settings keep changing back? Trace Settings, WinHTTP, PAC/WPAD, policy,…

Brendan Smith

Downloaded a Suspicious File but Didn’t Open It: Are You Safe?

Downloaded a suspicious file but did not open it? Learn how to…

Brendan Smith

How to Disable Incognito Mode in Chrome (Windows, Mac & Managed)

Disable Chrome Incognito mode with the correct Windows, Mac, Google Admin, or…

Brendan Smith

Antigravity language_server.exe Malware Warning: Safe to Restore?

Antigravity 2.3.1 language_server.exe hash verified. Check the source, path, version, SHA-256, and…

Brendan Smith

HYFLOCK Ransomware: .locked File Recovery and Removal

HYFLOCK ransomware adds .locked and drops How to Restore My Files.html. Isolate…

Brendan Smith

Spirals Ransomware Encrypts Networks in Under 24 Hours

Symantec documented a Spirals ransomware attack that moved from an exposed IIS…

Brendan Smith

Starland RAT Hides in Fake Zoom and WebEx Installers

Starland RAT hides in trojanized Zoom, WebEx, and other Windows installers. Check…

Brendan Smith

Win32:PUP-gen Avast Detection: Keep or Remove It?

Win32:PUP-gen is an Avast potentially unwanted program alert. Check consent, source, signer,…

Brendan Smith

Win32:Trojan-gen Avast Detection: Malware or False Positive?

Win32:Trojan-gen is a generic Avast or AVG trojan verdict. Use the file…

Brendan Smith

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