Remove Alpha Antivirus (Uninstall Guide)

Posted by Lawrence Abrams on September 28, 2009 @ 05:35 PM · Views: 71,619

 

What this infection does:

Alpha Antivirus is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Personal Antivirus. This program is promoted through the use of malware and web pop-ups that will be displayed as you browse the web. If you are infected via a malware infection, then Alpha Antivirus will be installed onto your computer without your knowledge or permission. If you encounter it via a pop-up, you will see a prompt stating that your computer is infected. When you click on this prompt you will be brought to a page showing an advertisement that pretends to be an online anti-malware scanner. This advertisement will pretend to scan your computer and then state that there are infections and that you should download and install Alpha Antivirus to protect yourself.

When Alpha Antivirus is installed it will be configured to start automatically when you boot into Windows. Once running it will perform a scan of your computer and when finished state that there are numerous infections on your computer. It will not allow you to remove these infections, though, until you first purchase the program. These infections are all fake and do not exist on your computer. They are only being shown to scare you into purchasing Alpha Antivirus.

 

Alpha Antivirus screenshot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 3 images you can view.

 

While the program is running you will see a constant barrage of fake security alerts and windows. These alerts, like the fake scan results, are designed to make you think there is a security risk on your computer and then suggest that you purchase Alpha Antivirus in order to protect your computer. Just like the scan results, these fake alerts are all fake and the only infection is Alpha Antivirus and the malware that was installed alongside it.

If you are infected with Alpha Antivirus, then please do not purchase this program. If you have already purchased it, then we advise you to contact your credit card company and dispute the charges as this program is a scam. Last, but not least, please use the guide below to remove Alpha Antivirus and related malware from your computer.

 

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

 

Advanced information:

View Alpha Antivirus files.
View Alpha Antivirus Registry Information.

 

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

Alpha Antivirus

 

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

 

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O2 - BHO: &Helper - {A77D3539-581D-450C-9E44-A84C415A6172} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\msnaoladdon.dll
O2 - BHO: &Advanced Explorer Editor - {35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ExplorerImages.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AlphaAV] C:\Program Files\AlphaAV\AlphaAV.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [AlphaAnt] C:\Program Files\AlphaAnt\alpha.exe

 

Guide Updates:

09/28/09 - Initial guide creation.
10/05/09 - Updated for new version
11/16/09 - Updated for new version.

 

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Automated Removal Instructions for Alpha Antivirus 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 Alpha Antivirus 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 AlphaAntivirus 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 AlphaAntivirus 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 Alpha Antivirus Files:

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAV
c:\Program Files\Common Files\Uninstall
c:\Program Files\Common Files\Uninstall\AlphaAV
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAV\Alpha Antivirus.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAV\Uninstall.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Desktop\Alpha Antivirus.lnk
c:\Program Files\Common Files\Uninstall\AlphaAV\Uninstall.lnk
c:\WINDOWS\system32\msnaoladdon.dll
c:\Program Files\AlphaAnt
c:\Program Files\AlphaAnt\alpha.exe
c:\Program Files\Common Files\AlphaAntUninstall
c:\Program Files\Common Files\AlphaAntUninstall\Uninstall.lnk
c:\WINDOWS\system32\ExplorerImages.dll
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\AlphaAnt.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Alpha Antivirus.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt\Alpha Antivirus.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt\Computer Scan.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt\Help.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt\Registration.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt\Security Center.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt\Settings.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\AlphaAnt\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 Alpha Antivirus Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{A77D3539-581D-450C-9E44-A84C415A6172}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{A77D3539-581D-450C-9E44-A84C415A6172}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform "WinNT-PAI 05.10.2009"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "AlphaAV"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\uninstall\AlphaAnt
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\5FFB10D58FFCF482208906E6A889FD56
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{35A5B43B-CB8A-49CA-A9F4-D3B308D2E3CC}
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "AlphaAnt"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\post platform "WinTSI 15.11.2009"