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

ARP Spoofing Attacks: Detection, Prevention, and False Alerts in 2026

Learn how ARP spoofing works, how to check ARP cache poisoning alerts,…

Brendan Smith

Trojan:Script/Downloader!MSR: Meaning and Removal Guide

Trojan:Script/Downloader!MSR is a Microsoft Defender alert for a script that can download…

Brendan Smith

Trojan:Win32/Malgent!MSR: Removal & False Positive Checks

Check what a Malgent warning means, whether the detected file ran, and…

Brendan Smith

Secure Windows 10 After End of Support: What to Do in 2026

Still using Windows 10 after support ended? Learn when to use ESU,…

Brendan Smith

Trojan:Win32/Tnega!MSR: False Positive or Remove It?

Seeing Trojan:Win32/Tnega!MSR? Check the affected path, source, signature, false-positive clues, and safe…

Brendan Smith

Virus:Win32/Floxif.H Removal

Virus:Win32/Floxif.H is a severe Microsoft Defender file-infector alert. Learn how to remove…

Brendan Smith

PUA:Win32/Presenoker: Meaning, Removal, and Safe Check

PUA:Win32/Presenoker is a Microsoft Defender detection for a potentially unwanted application, not…

Brendan Smith

Trojan:Win32/Wacatac.H!ml: False Positive or Remove?

Defender found Trojan:Win32/Wacatac.H!ml? Check the path and source, decide restore vs remove,…

Brendan Smith

PUADlManager:Win32/OfferCore: Remove, Restore, or False Positive?

Defender found PUADlManager:Win32/OfferCore or PUADIManager? Check the path, decide false positive vs…

Brendan Smith

PUA:Win32/Softcnapp: Allow or Remove?

PUA:Win32/Softcnapp may be a false positive for a known app, but repeated…

Brendan Smith

sihost.exe: Shell Infrastructure Host Safe or Virus?

sihost.exe is safe in the Windows System32 folder with a Microsoft signature.…

Brendan Smith

WinRing0x64.sys Defender Alert: Safe Driver or Malware?

A practical check for WinRing0x64.sys: legitimate hardware utility, Microsoft vulnerable driver alert,…

Brendan Smith

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