Remove Antivirus (Uninstall Guide)

Posted by Lawrence Abrams on August 4, 2010 @ 12:00 AM · Views: 9,819

 

What this infection does:

Antivirus is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Defense Center and Protection Center. This infection is promoted through fake pornography sites, fake online anti-malware scanners, and sites that have been hacked to issue exploits. When you visit these sites, you will be prompted to download a program that either pretends to be a video codec that is required to view an online video or the program may be installed automatically without your permission. Once installed it will be configured to start automatically when Windows starts. Once started, this program will scan your computer and then display numerous infections on your computer, but will not allow you to remove any until you first purchase the program. Many of the programs that it states are infections, though, are actually legitimate Windows files. Therefore, do not delete any of the files it states are infections as it may affect the proper operation of your computer.

When installed, Antivirus may also install the Pragma TDSS infection on your computer. This rootkit hides on your operating system and acts as a security guard. The Pragma rootkit will terminate antivirus programs when you attempt to clean with them as well make it difficult to visit legitimate security sites. As you can imagine it does this in order to stop you from removing the Antivirus program from your computer.

 

Antivirus screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 14 images you can view.

 

While Antivirus is running it will also display a fake Windows Security Center. This fake security center differs from the legitimate one by recommending that you purchase Antivirus in order to protect your computer. Antivirus will also display numerous fake security alerts and warnings on your computer as you use it. These warnings are devised to scare you into thinking that your computer is under attack or has a serious computer security problem. The text of these alerts are:

Warning! Network Attack Detected!
Your computer is being attacked from a remote PC.
Attack from <ip address>
Process is trying to steal your passwords listed below. It is highly recommended to block this threat now.

Antivirus alert - Critical Threat Detected
Warning: Network attack detected
Network attach has been detected. Process is attempting to access your private data.

Unauthorized person tries to steal your passwords and private information. Click on the message to prevent identity theft.

User's activity loggers detected!
It's strongly recommended to remove detected threats right now!
You are using a trial version.
It is recommended to purchase a commercial version.

Danger!
Harmful viruses detected on your computer. This malicious software may harm your computer. Click on the message to ensure the protection of your computer.

Warning! Keylogger detected!
Keylogger activity detected on your PC!
PDM.Keylogger activity has been detected. Process is trying to redirect keyboard input. Your passwords and other private information are at risk. Please click the button below to block and remove this threat now.

Warning! Adware detected!
Adware Module detected on your PC!
Zlob.Porn.Ad adware has been detected. This adware module advertises websites with explicit content. Be advised of such content being possibly illegal. Please click the button below to locate and remove this threat now.

It is highly recommended to remove this threat from your PC.
You are using a trial version. It is recommended to purchase a commercial version.

Most of the viruses and worms on your PC because of visiting pornosites or warez/torrent sites.

DANGEROUS! ANTIVIRUS DETECTED SOME HARMFUL PROGRAMS ON YOUR PC! THEY MAY CORRUPT YOUR INFORMATION OR SEND IT TO HACKERS.

PLEASE, OPTIMIZE YOUR PC. IT RUN ONLY 10%.

All of these security alerts are fake and should be ignored.

Without a doubt, Antivirus was designed to make you think that you are infected so that you will then be scared into purchasing the program. It goes without saying that you should definitely not purchase it, and if you have, you should contact your credit card company and dispute the charges stating that the program is a scam. To remove Antivirus and any related malware, please follow the steps in the removal guide below.

 

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

 

Advanced information:

View Antivirus files.
View Antivirus Registry Information.

 

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

 

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [wmsdk64_32.exe] %Temp%\wmsdk64_32.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Antivirus] "C:\Program Files\AnVi\avt.exe" -noscan

 

Guide Updates:

08/04/10 - Initial guide creation.

 

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

 

1. Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
   
   
2. It is possible that the infection you are trying to remove will not allow you to download files on the infected computer. If this is the case, then you will need to download the files requested in this guide on another computer and then transfer them to the infected computer. You can transfer the files via a CD/DVD, external drive, or USB flash drive.
   
   
3. As this infection is commonly bundled with the TDSS infection, you must first remove it in order to remove the Antivirus infection. Please follow the steps in the following guide:
   

   How to remove Google Redirects or the TDSS, TDL3, or Alureon rootkit using TDSSKiller

   After running TDSSKiller, even if it did not find any infections, please continue with the next step.
   
   
4. Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to Antivirus so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, please download RKill to your desktop from the following link.
   
   RKill Download Link - (Download page will open in a new tab or browser window.)
   
   When at the download page, click on the Download Now button labeled iExplore.exe download link. When you are prompted where to save it, please save it on your desktop.
   
   
5. Once it is downloaded, double-click on the iExplore.exe icon in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Antivirus and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a message that RKill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just a fake warning given by Antivirus when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into these infections warnings that close RKill, a trick is to leave the warning on the screen and then run RKill again. By not closing the warning, this typically will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that RKill can terminate Antivirus . So, please try running RKill until the malware is no longer running. You will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. Do not reboot your computer after running RKill as the malware programs will start again.
   
   If you continue having problems running RKill, you can download the other renamed versions of RKill from the RKill download page. Both of these files are renamed copies of rkill.com, which you can try instead. Please note that the download page will open in a new browser window or tab.
   
   
6. Now you should download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
   
   Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link (Download page will open in a new window)
   
   


7. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
   
   
8. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
   
   
9. 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. If MalwareBytes' prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
   
   
10. 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.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Antivirus related files.
    
    
12. 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.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. 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 Antivirus removal process.
    
    
14. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
    
    
15. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    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. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
    
    
16. 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.
    
    
17. You can now exit the MBAM program.
    

Your computer should now be free of the Antivirus 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 Using Malware Removal Tools and Requesting Help

 

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Associated Antivirus Files:

c:\Program Files\AnVi\
c:\Program Files\AnVi\about.ico
c:\Program Files\AnVi\activate.ico
c:\Program Files\AnVi\avt.db
c:\Program Files\AnVi\avt.exe
c:\Program Files\AnVi\avtext.dll
c:\Program Files\AnVi\avthook.dll
c:\Program Files\AnVi\buy.ico
c:\Program Files\AnVi\help.ico
c:\Program Files\AnVi\scan.ico
c:\Program Files\AnVi\settings.ico
c:\Program Files\AnVi\splash.mp3
c:\Program Files\AnVi\Uninstall.exe
c:\Program Files\AnVi\update.ico
c:\Program Files\AnVi\virus.mp3
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Antivirus Support.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\nudetube.com.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\pornotube.com.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\spam001.exe
%UserProfile%\Desktop\spam003.exe
%UserProfile%\Desktop\troj000.exe
%UserProfile%\Desktop\youporn.com.lnk
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\wmsdk64_32.exe
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\wscsvc32.exe
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\About.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\Activate.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\Antivirus Support.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\Buy.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\Scan.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\Settings.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\AnVi\Update.lnk

File Location Notes:

%UserProfile% refers to the current user's profile folder. By default, this is C:\Documents and Settings\<Current User> for Windows 2000/XP, C:\Users\<Current User> for Windows Vista/7, and c:\winnt\profiles\<Current User> for Windows NT.

 

Associated Antivirus Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Malware Defense
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Paladin Antivirus
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{5E2121EE-0300-11D4-8D3B-444553540000}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AnVi
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Malware Defense
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Antivirus
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paladin Antivirus
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Antivirus"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "wmsdk64_32.exe"