Antivirus Soft is a rogue anti-spyware and ransomware program from the same family as Antispyware Soft. These infections are installed on to your computer through the use of malware that installs the program onto your computer without your permission or knowledge. It is also common for this rogue to be installed on your computer through the use of malicious PDF files that exploit known vulnerabilities in older versions of Adobe Reader. Once installed, Antivirus Soft will be configured to start automatically when Windows starts. Once running it will scan your computer and display numerous infections, but will state it will not remove them until you purchase the program. In reality, the infected files it detects are all fake and do not actually exist on your computer.

This program also uses aggressive techniques to protect itself from being removed by anti-malware programs. When the Antivirus Soft process is running it will close almost any running program while falsely stating that they are infected. Antivirus Soft will also change the Proxy settings in Internet Explorer so that you cannot browse to any web site other than the site for Antivirus Soft so that you can purchase the program. It does this so that you cannot browse the web to find removal guides or download software that will help you remove the infection. Using these two methods, the program essentially ransoms the normal use of your computer until you purchase the program or use the guide below to remove the infection.

 

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

 

While Antivirus Soft is running you will also see numerous security warnings and alerts that try to trick you into thinking that you have a security problem on your computer. An example of one of the alerts you will see is a fake Windows Security Center that looks exactly like the legitimate one, but instead suggests that you purchase Antivirus Soft to protect your computer. The infection will also show numerous alerts that state that your computer is infected, that you are sending personal data to a remote location, or a that your computer is being attacked. One of the alerts will have this text:

Antivirus Software Alert
Infiltration Alert
Your computer is being attacked by an internet virus. It could be a password-stealing attack, a trojan-dropper or similar.
Threat: Win32/Nuqel.E

Just like the fake scan results, these security alerts are all fake and are just being shown to trick you into purchasing the program.

Without a doubt, Antivirus Soft was created solely to try and scam you into thinking that your computer is infected in the hopes that you will then purchase it. It goes without saying that you should not purchase this program, and if you already have, please contact your credit card company and dispute the charges stating the program is a scam. Finally, to remove this infection please use the removal guide below to remove it for free.

 

Threat Classification:

• Information on Ransomware Programs
• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

 

Advanced information:

View Antivirus Soft files.
View Antivirus Soft Registry Information.

 

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

 

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

<b>Windows XP:</b>

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [<random>] %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\<random>\<random>sysguard.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [<random>] %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\<random>\<random>sftav.exe

<b>Windows Vista and Windows 7:</b>

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ucmnrejs] %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\<random>\<random>sysguard.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ucmnrejs] %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\<random>\<random>sftav.exe

 

Article Updates:

01/30/10 - Initial guide creation.
02/01/10 - Updated for new files and registry entries.
02/02/10 - Updated for new filename.
03/22/10 - Updated instructions.

 

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Automated Removal Instructions for Antivirus Soft 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 you run into this problem when following the steps in this guide 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. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking using the instructions for your version of Windows found in the following tutorial:
   

   How to start Windows in Safe Mode

   When following the steps in the above tutorial, select Safe Mode with Networking rather than just Safe Mode. When the computer reboots into Safe Mode with Networking make sure you login with the username you normally use. When you are at your Windows desktop, please continue with the rest of the steps.
   
   
4. This infection changes your Windows settings to use a proxy server that will not allow you to browse any pages on the Internet with Internet Explorer or update security software. Regardless of the web browser you use, for these instructions we will first need need to fix this problem so that we can download the utilities we need to remove this infection.
   
   Please start Internet Explorer, and when the program is open, click on the Tools menu and then select Internet Options as shown in the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. You should now be in the Internet Options screen as shown in the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Now click on the Connections tab as designated by the blue arrow above.
   
   
6. You will now be at the Connections tab as shown by the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Now click on the Lan Settings button as designated by the blue arrow above.
   
   
7. You will now be at the Local Area Network (LAN) settings screen as shown by the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Under the Proxy Server section, please uncheck the checkbox labeled Use a proxy server for your LAN. Then press the OK button to close this screen. Then press the OK button to close the Internet Options screen. Now that you have disabled the proxy server you will be able to browse the web again with Internet Explorer.
   
   
8. Now we must end the processes that belong to Antivirus Soft 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.
   
   If you are unable to connect to the site to download RKill, please go back and do steps 3-6 again and make sure the infection has not reenabled the proxy settings. You may have to do this quite a few times before you can get RKill downloaded. If you still cannot download the RKill program on the infected computer, you should download it to a clean computer and copy it to the infected one via a USB flash drive or CDROM.
   
   
9. Once it is downloaded, double-click on the iExplore.exe icon in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Antivirus Soft 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 Soft 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 Soft . 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, which you can try instead. Please note that the download page will open in a new browser window or tab.
   
   
10. At this point you should download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, or MBAM, to scan your computer for any any infections or adware that may be present. Please download Malwarebytes from the following location and save it to your desktop:
    
    Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Download Link (Download page will open in a new window)
    


11. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
    
    
12. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
    
    
13. 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 Launch Malwarebytes Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button. If MalwareBytes prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
    
    
14. MBAM will now start and you will be at the main screen as shown below.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Please click on the Scan Now button to start the scan. If there is an update available for Malwarebytes it will automatically download and install it before performing the scan.
    
    
15. MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan to see when it is finished.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
16. When MBAM is finished scanning it will display a screen that displays any malware that it has detected. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image below due to the guide being updated for newer versions of MBAM.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the seleted 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.
    
    
17. You can now exit the MBAM program.
    
    
18. 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 Antivirus Soft program. You may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future, as if you had the real-time protection component, that comes with the paid for version, activated it would not have allowed this infection to install.

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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BleepingComputer.com can not be held responsible for problems that may occur by using this information. If you would like help with any of these fixes, you can ask for malware removal assistance in our Virus, Trojan, Spyware, and Malware Removal Logs forum.

If you have any questions about this self-help guide then please post those questions in our Am I infected? What do I do? and someone will help you.