Remove A-fast Antivirus (Uninstall Guide)
Posted by Lawrence Abrams on May 3, 2010 @ 02:22 PM · Views: 9,409
What this infection does:
A-fast Antivirus is a rogue anti-spyware program that pretends
to protect your computer but is in reality the infection itself. When installed
A-fast Antivirus will be configured to start automatically when Windows starts.
Once started it will scan your computer and state that you have numerous infections,
but will state it won't remove them until you first purchase the program. These
scan results, though, are all fake and the files it states are infections are
actually legitimate Windows programs. Therefore, do not manually delete any
of the programs it states are infections as you may delete a file that is necessary
for Windows to operate properly.
A-fast Antivirus screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 7 images you can view.
While A-fast Antivirus is running it will also block numerous programs from
running while stating they are infections. It does this as it does not want
you to run any programs that may help you remove it. An example of one of these
alerts is:
Unable to run cmd.exe
The program is infected!
While the program is running it will also show fake security alerts and warnings
stating that viruses are detected or that you have privacy issues on your computer.
These alerts are:
System warning!
Continue working in unprotected mode is very dangerous. Viruses can damage
your confidential data and work on your computer. Click here to protect your
computer.
Intercepting programs that may compromise your privacy
and harm your system have been detected on your PC. It's highly recommended
you scan your PC right now.
Your computer is infected! Windows detected spyware
infection!
It is recommended to use special antispyware tools to prevent dataloss. Windows
will now download and install the most up-to-date antispyware for you.
Critical System Warning!
Your system is probably infected with a version of Trojan-Spy.HTML.Visafraud.a.
This may result in website access passwords being stolen from Internet Explorer,
Mozilla Firefox, Outlook etc. Click Yes to scan and remove threats (recommended).
Like the scan results, these fake warnings are just another tactic to make
you think that your computer is infected and should be ignored.
As you can see, A-fast Antivirus was developed to scare you into thinking that
you have a security problem in the hopes that you will then purchase the program.
It goes without saying that you should definitely not purchase this program,
and if you have, you should contact your credit card company and dispute the
charges. Finally, please use the guide below to remove this infection and any
related malware for free.
Threat Classification:
Advanced information:
View A-fast Antivirus files.
View A-fast Antivirus Registry Information.
Tools Needed for this fix:
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [fast] C:\Program Files\A-fast\A-fast.exe
Guide Updates:
05/01/10 - Initial guide creation.
Automated Removal Instructions for A-fast Antivirus using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
- Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that
is open later in the fix.
- Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking. To
do this, turn your computer off and then back on and immediately when you
see anything on the screen, start tapping the F8 key on your
keyboard. Eventually you will be brought to a menu similar to the one below:
Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select Safe Mode with Networking
and press Enter on your keyboard. If you are having trouble
entering safe mode, then please use the following tutorial: How
to start Windows in Safe Mode
Windows will now boot into safe mode with networking and prompt you to login
as a user. Please login as the same user you were previously logged in with
in the normal Windows mode. Then proceed with the rest of the steps.
- Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location
and save it to your desktop:
http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link (Download page will open in
a new window)
- Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including
this one.
- Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe.
This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
A-fast Antivirus
related files.
- 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.
- 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
A-fast Antivirus
removal process.
- You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should
click on the Show Results button.
- 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.
- 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.
- You can now exit the MBAM program.
- As many rogues and other malware are installed through vulnerabilities found
in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use
Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer. A tutorial on
how to use Secunia PSI to scan for vulnerable programs can be found here:
How to
detect vulnerable and out-dated programs using Secunia Personal Software Inspector
Your computer should now be free of the A-fast 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
Associated A-fast Antivirus Files:
%UserProfile%\Desktop\A-fast Antivirus.lnk
c:\Program Files\A-fast
c:\Program Files\A-fast\A-fast.exe
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 A-fast Antivirus Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\A-fast
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DosableTaskMgr" = "1"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "fast"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List "C:\Program Files\A-fast\A-fast.exe"
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