How to remove Astrum Antivirus Pro (Uninstall Instructions)

Posted by Grinler on December 25, 2008 @ 08:27 AM · Views: 5,223

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What this programs does:

Astrum Antivirus Pro is a rogue antivirus program from the same family as AntivirusTrigger. Astrum Antivirus is classified as a rogue because it is advertised through the use of misleading web sites and Trojans. When visiting certain web sites you will be presented with pop-ups stating that your computer is infected and that you should run an online scan. Regardless of the buttons you press on this pop-up, you will be brought to a page that displays an advertisement pretending to be an online anti-malware scanner. When the fake scan is finished, it will state you are infected and then prompt you to download and install Astrum Antivirus Pro in order to protect yourself. This infection is also advertised through Trojans that masquerade as video codecs required to watch online movies. Once this Trojan is installed, you will begin to see fake Windows Security Center alerts stating that your computer is infected and then Astrum Antivirus Pro will automatically be installed.

Once installed, Astrum Antivirus will automatically start when you logon to Windows. Once it is started it will automatically scan your computer and list a variety of infections that cannot be removed unless you first purchase the program. These infections, though, are legitimate files that should not be removed from your computer. For example, two of the false positives that are shown in my tests are C:\Windows\Help\tapi.chm and C:\Windows\System32\qasf.dll, both of which are legitimate files. It is only stating these files are malware in order to scare you into purchasing the software. A byproduct of having Astrum Antivirus installed is that you will find your computer begins to operate slower. This is because the program is constantly running in the background and displaying fake alerts and nag screens asking you to purchase the program. Please ignore these alerts, and instead use the free removal guide below.

Astrum Antivirus Pro screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 7 images you can view.

This guide will walk you through removing the Astrum Antivirus Pro program and its associated malware for free.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Astrum Antivirus Pro files.
View Astrum Antivirus Pro Registry Information.

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

Astrum Antivirus Pro 3.6

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Astrum] "C:\Program Files\Astrumsoftware\Astrum.exe"

Guide Updates:

12/25/08 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Astrum Antivirus Pro 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
   
   


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 quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Astrum Antivirus Pro 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 Astrum Antivirus Pro 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 Astrum Antivirus Pro 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 Posting A Hijackthis Log

Associated Astrum Antivirus Pro Files:

%UserProfile%c:\Program Files\Astrumsoftware
%UserProfile%c:\Program Files\Astrumsoftware\Astrum.exe
%UserProfile%c:\Program Files\Astrumsoftware\uninst.exe
%UserProfile%%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Astrum Antivirus Pro 3.6.lnk
%UserProfile%%UserProfile%\Desktop\Astrum Antivirus Pro 3.6.lnk
%UserProfile%%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Astrum Antivirus Pro 3.6.lnk
%UserProfile%%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Astrum Antivirus Pro 3.6
%UserProfile%%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Astrum Antivirus Pro 3.6\Astrum Antivirus Pro 3.6.lnk

Associated Astrum Antivirus Pro Windows Registry Information:

%UserProfile%HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Astrumsoft
%UserProfile%HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{29E762AD-1B6F-3CB6-7F71-866F3E78180B}
%UserProfile%HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Astrumsoft
%UserProfile%HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Astrumsoft