Smitfraud is a trojan, which changes the desktop wallpaper to a false alert or fake error message, which trick the user into downloading and purchasing corrupt anti-spyware software such as PSGuard, SpySheriff, AdwareDelete or Antivirus Gold. The parasite tracks user Internet activity and transfers gathered data to predefined web servers. It also changes Internet Explorer default home and search pages as well as some related settings and may redirect the web browser to malicious web sites. Furthermore, Smitfraud replaces some Windows critical components with own infected files. This may cause serious system instability issues. It is also known that Smitfraud drops some other parasites including a worm and several adware programs. The trojan automatically runs on every Windows startup.