SpyAxe, Spy Sheriff, Brave Sentry, Spy Trooper

There are a lot of malware programs out there and SpyAxe, Spy Sheriff, Brave Sentry and Spy Trooper are just a few. You might ask "How Did My Computer Become Infected with SpyAxe, Spy Sheriff, Brave Sentry, etc?"

If your computer has become infected with one of these "spyware removal programs", then you probably were infected by a Windows exploit discovered on December 26, 2005 called the WMF exploit. This exploit affects Windows XP/2000 and Windows 2003 Server-based computers.

Microsoft describes the exploit in its security bulletin this way:
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the Graphics Rendering Engine because of the way that it handles Windows Metafile (WMF) images. An attacker could exploit the vulnerability by constructing a specially crafted WMF image that could potentially allow remote code execution if a user visited a malicious Web site or opened a specially crafted attachment in e-mail. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system.

Is there a fix? Yes, and you can find it here.

I found this information at a website called PC Hell that I found from a hint that Brian Krebs from the Washington Post gave in one of his posts.

Everyone has been to PC Hell at one time or another. It's that place you visit when your personal computer is driving you insane with problems, glitches, and so on. To try to soothe the frustration, we'll provide some tips, hints, and troubleshooting remedies to help you get out of PC Hell. Be warned however, sometimes there is no exit....