MalwareWar Removal Guide

Posted by Lawrence Abrams on March 25, 2008 @ 05:33 PM · Views: 3,414

 

What this infection does:

MalwareWar is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as MalwareWipe. When installed, MalwareWar will scan your computer and displays a list of false results stating that your computer is infected. When we tested this program on a computer that was infected with malware, not only did it not find any of the infections, but it stated that we had infections that did not even exist. These types of false results are given in order to scare you into thinking you are infected and coerce you into purchasing a license of the software to remove them. Due to this deceptive behaviour we have classified MalwareWar as a rogue anti-spyware program.

A screenshot of the MalwareWar program is shown below.

 

 

 

 

Please follow the instructions below to remove MalwareWar.

 

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

 

Advanced information:

View MalwareWar files.
View MalwareWar Registry Information.

 

Entries for this program found in the Add or Remove Programs control panel:

MalwareWar 7.3

 

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

 

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MalwareWar 7.3] "C:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\MalwareWar 7.3.exe" /h

 

Guide Updates:

03/24/08 - Initial guide creation.

 

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Automated Removal Instructions for MalwareWar 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 (Download page will open in a new window)
   
   


3. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
   
   
4. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named 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 full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for MalwareWar 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 Malware War 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. 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.
    
    
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 Malware War 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 MalwareWar Files:

c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\MalwareWar 7.3.exe
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\MalwareWar 7.3.url
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\msvcp71.dll
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\msvcr71.dll
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\mwdb.dat
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\uninst.exe
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\Lang
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\Lang\English.ini
c:\Program Files\MalwareWar 7.3\Quarantine
%UserProfile%\Desktop\MalwareWar 7.3.lnk
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp\MWLanguage.ini
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\MalwareWar 7.3.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\MalwareWar 7.3
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\MalwareWar 7.3\MalwareWar 7.3 Website.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\MalwareWar 7.3\MalwareWar 7.3.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\MalwareWar 7.3\Uninstall MalwareWar 7.3.lnk
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\MalwareWar 7.3.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 MalwareWar Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{C291DEE7-D4B6-42d8-A016-302E6141D63B}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\MalwareWar.EXE
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{13901470-5BCF-0EA6-A762-AD195455772B}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{195EA874-7AD8-4BE2-A1D1-ADDFFDC66DCA}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{2568D1BF-6D5E-4B17-81E5-7A97EF5D8F05}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{2F9DB89F-7F95-4C69-B775-A0C6C01DACE1}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{3CDB3874-DC96-4890-A786-4B6089E10980}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{5C03DE51-7AB7-41FC-8D50-ECDF39BA2DC0}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{5EFA24D1-944B-4ED8-99F1-2283F79E4136}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{65605733-BE0B-445A-B221-3C82A6BB1EE0}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{90E3F5BF-324B-433F-96C6-E272F2040D6B}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{B3FC6AF3-D3F4-496F-B8BF-8373BACE33F1}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{B6CB3B36-6134-45B8-83F0-6907B2538890}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{B71726E1-CBFE-425D-8446-15B51F54E493}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{C68F00CE-07D1-48AB-830E-D311D255C894}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{C9605621-B932-4359-AB54-5D88EB56A2A3}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{C9686C59-8568-40B1-9468-15446A529354}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{DAFAF86D-9B59-48C1-895F-4FF84A794675}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{E0394CFD-D54D-4826-932D-8379AB554882}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{2108EBD7-160B-4C23-A99F-1F559DDD320A}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Licenses
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MalwareWar 7.3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RFC1156Agent
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RFC1156Agent\CurrentVersion
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RFC1156Agent\CurrentVersion\Parameters
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MalwareWar 7.3.exe 7.3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "MalwareWar 7.3"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\MalwareWar 7.3