How to remove Power Antivirus 2009 (Uninstall Instructions)

Posted by Grinler on July 30, 2008 @ 09:07 PM · Views: 44,957

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What this programs does:

Power Antivirus 2009 is a rogue antivirus program from the same makers as Win Antivir 2008. In fact, Power Antivirus and Win Antivir are exactly the same program except that the filenames, registry keys, and names are different. They also act the same; they display false information stating that you are infected, while not allowing you to remove anything unless you first purchase the software. Power Antivirus 2009 is advertised through sites that pretend to be online scanners, which state you are infected and should install Power Antivirus in order to protect yourself. In reality, though, these scanners are just advertisements and are doing nothing but promoting the program. So, do not be concerned by what it says as the information given to you is all fake.

If you decide to install the program, Power Antivirus will automatically scan your computer and state that you are infected with a variety of programs. All of the programs shown, though, either do not exist, or are legitimate programs being flagged as malware. For example, when I ran the program it stated that MalwareBytes Antimalware and C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe were infections. In reality, MalwareBytes is a legitimate anti-malware program and the cmd.exe file is the Microsoft Windows command prompt. Needless to say, if you deleted either of these programs you would be doing harm to your computer rather than protecting it.

Power Antivirus will also display fake alerts on your computer. These alerts range from fake Windows Security Center alerts stating that something is attacking your computer to fake firewall alerts stating that Internet Explorer is infected. All of these alerts are just another tactic to scare you into purchasing the program and can be ignored. If you have this infection, the best thing you can for your computer at this point is to uninstall Power Antivirus. Unfortunately, this program does not come with an uninstall utility that is easily accessible and may also be bundled with malware. It is because of these reasons that we have created this guide to help you remove this software.

Screen shot of Power Antivirus 2009
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 8 images you can view.

This guide will walk you through removing the Power Antivirus 2009 programs and any associated malware for free.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs

Advanced information:

View Power Antivirus 2009 files.
View Power Antivirus 2009 Registry Information.

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Power-Antivirus-2009] C:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\Power-Antivirus-2009.exe

Guide Updates:

07/30/08 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Power Antivirus 2009 using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

1. Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
   
   
2. Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
   
   Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link
   
   


3. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
   
   
4. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named Download_mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
   
   
5. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.
   
   
6. MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main program as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Power Antivirus 2009 related files.
   
   
8. MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the PowerAntivirus 2009 removal process.
   
   
10. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
    
    
11. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine.
    
    
12. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
    
    
13. You can now exit the MBAM program.
    

Your computer should now be free of the PowerAntivirus 2009 program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.

If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:

Preparation Guide For Use Before Posting A Hijackthis Log

Associated Power Antivirus 2009 Files:

c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\Buy.url
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\Help.url
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\HowToBuy.txt
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\ID.dat
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\License.txt
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\Power-Antivirus-2009.exe
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\Restart.exe
c:\Program Files\Power-Antivirus-2009\Uninstall.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Power-Antivirus-2009
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Power-Antivirus-2009\base.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Power-Antivirus-2009\base2.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Power-Antivirus-2009\Desc.dat
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Power-Antivirus-2009\Power-Antivirus-2009.ini
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Power-Antivirus-2009\spline.dat
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Power-Antivirus-2009.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Power-Antivirus-2009
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Power-Antivirus-2009\Purchase License.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Power-Antivirus-2009\Start Power-Antivirus-2009.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Power-Antivirus-2009\Support Page.lnk

Associated Power Antivirus 2009 Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Power-Antivirus-2009
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Power-Antivirus-2009"