How to remove Micro Antivirus 2009 (Uninstall Instructions)

Posted by Grinler on September 10, 2008 @ 03:03 PM · Views: 32,015

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What this programs does:

Micro Antivirus 2009 is a clone of the rogue anti-spyware program called MS Antivirus. In fact it is so similar, that in some screens the developers forgot to remove the (MS)Antivirus title. MicroAntivirus is distributed via Trojans that disguise themselves as video codecs that are required to be installed in order to watch a particular movie online. Once these Trojans are installed, they will issue fake security alerts stating that your computer is infected and then download and install Micro Antivirus 2009. Once the program is installed it will automatically scan your computer and display a variety of fake infections that cannot be removed unless you first purchase the program.

When this infection is installed on your computer you will also see a constant barrage of fake security alerts that state your computer is infected or being attacked and that you should install Micro Antivirus in order to remove them. The reality, though, is that these alerts are all fake and are only being used to scare you into purchasing the product. Due to these pop-ups you will also find that your computer operates slower than normal because it using up your computer's resources.

Micro Antivirus 2009 screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 5 images you can view.

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

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Micro Antivirus 2009 files.
View Micro Antivirus 2009 Registry Information.

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ANTIVIRUS] C:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus\microAV.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ANTIVIRUS] C:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus\microAV.exe

Guide Updates:

09/10/08 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Micro Antivirus 2009 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 Micro Antivirus 2009 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 MicroAV 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 MicroAV 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 Micro Antivirus 2009 Files:

c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Desktop\MicroAntivirus.lnk
c:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus
c:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus\microAV.cpl
c:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus\microAV.exe
c:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus\microAV.ooo
c:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus\microAV0.dat
c:\Program Files\MicroAntivirus\microAV1.dat
c:\WINDOWS\system32\MicroAV.cpl

Associated Micro Antivirus 2009 Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AntiVirus
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MicroAV
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "ANTIVIRUS"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "ANTIVIRUS"