Used Microsoft Office Activator Beta 1,2 or 3+? VIRUS! AutoKMS.exe [Please Read]

[Resistance]

If anyone stumbles on this while using some google-fu, please let me clarify a few things with insights from an *actual* software developer.

OP:
*blah blah blah*
Then your safe, it wanted to access my system but strangely my anti-virus didn't detect it... But Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate DID.
It wanted to debug itself at startup, which is really fcked up.

When reading the above, you might feel compelled to believe the OP knows what he's talking about, but it actually demonstrates that he doesn't. (It also demonstrates that he has programming ambitions, but is actually too lazy to get serious about it, since he's confusing an intermediate topic such as a debugger, with him actually "decompiling code" and all that. Fascinating. Really.)

First of, when OP was installing Visual Studio with all bells and whistles, he automagically installed something called a "run-time debugger". Sh*t kicks in when a program crashes and fails to execute, and helps with "debugging" the problem --> it can show a bunch of data used by the program at the time of the crash. In order to do this, the regular "Error: sh*t is crashing!" window gets replaced by a fancy "would you like to debug this crash with Visual Studio?" window, for each and every program that crashes.

The fact that AutoKMS.exe crashed has nothing to do with it being dangerous or not. It crashed, and Visual Studio asked if it could help, and OP didn't know what was happening and assumed A) the program started to "debug itself"! B) it's a virus/spyware/trojan/whatever! C) My Visual Studio knows how to detect stuff! (<-- that one's quite funny, actually. ^^;)

Now, on to the fact whether AutoKMS.exe is dangerous or not:

- did you install an illegal copy of MS Office 2010?
If the answer is yes, then you're relying on AutoKMS.exe to extend your activation beyond 180 days. Without it, your illegal Office will start complaining about not being activated after 180 days.

- could it be dangerous nonetheless?
All software is potentially dangerous, but this particular item is created by someone with a pretty decent reputation (for a pirate). Since his/her (you can never be sure nowadays) motivation is "gain reputation" instead of "gain profit", you're pretty safe.

- my AV said it's dangerous
Where did you get your illegal Office? Some shady website or P2P network that you're not familiar with? Possibly, the file has been infected by someone who *is* out for profit, but chances of that happening are rather low (10% low, not 0.001% low). If your AV says it's a "keygen/hacktool", well.. it is. That's why you have it. To generate a key and hack MS Office every few days so it doesn't stop working after 180 days. If your AV says it's a trojan/backdoor/spyware etc., it could mean the file was modified to include such things. This would put you in the 10% category.

- so I'm in the 10% category, now what?
You have 3 tasks at hand:
1) your source of your software is tainted. Re-think how you obtain such things (the store is usually pretty straightforward and noob-friendly), and edu-ma-cate yourself by asking around on the interwebs.
2) check wikipedia for information about good and free virus scanners, get one or a few, and start scanning your computer. Chances are this isn't the only problem.
3) either obtain MS Office legally like the consumer wh*re you are, or break the law and search for a better source of this AutoKMS.exe file you were relying on (..without ever noticing it. Srsly, to me, that says "good software design").

As you might be able to tell, I'm not interested in the moral side of it all. People do what whatever they feel like and I feel like spreading useful and unbiased information atm. (well, I definitly *don't* feel like working, so that might be a better reason..)

Off subj, perhaps? That rather large phrase you posted up there seems to be able to judge any piece of software on a warez site, but I did not visit any wares site. It had been hack forums x-.-

It had been a malicious file. Why crack something then create files in a windows directory?... And since that darn download my computer was slow as hell. Sure seems you like defending this hacker, maybe you are affiliated with AutoKMS.exe? Not pointing any fingers though.