How to remove P Antispyware 09 or PAntispyware09 (Removal Guide)

Posted by Grinler on April 14, 2009 @ 11:52 AM · Views: 1,597

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What this programs does:

P Antispyware 09, otherwise known as PAntispyware09, is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as WinSpywareProtect. This rogue uses false advertising and fake scan results as a tactic to have you purchase the software. When visiting certain sites you will be greeted with pop-ups stating that your computer is infected and that you should run an online anti-malware scanner. Regardless of the button you press on this pop-up, you will be brought to a page showing an advertisement that pretends to be an online scanner. Once this advertisement is finished, it will state that your computer is infected and that you should install P Antispyware 09 in order to protect your computer.

P Antispyware 09 screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 2 images you can view.

Once this program is installed, it will be configured to start automatically when Windows loads. When running it will automatically scan your computer and detect a variety of infections on your computer that cannot be removed until you first purchase the program. These infections, though, are actually fake and do not actually exist on your computer. In fact, P Antispyware is hard coded to always show a random selection of malware installed on your computer regardless of how clean it is in order to scare you into thinking you are infected. When the program is running you will also be greeted with a constant barrage of alerts, describing some sort of security risk, or nag screens asking you to purchase the program. The text of one of these fake security alerts is:

Serious threats have been found on your computer. Your privacy and personal data may not be safe. Do you want to Clean and Protect Your PC?

Please ignore these alerts and nag screens and instead use the free removal guide below to remove P Antispyware 09 and any related malware.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View P Antispyware 09 files.
View P Antispyware 09 Registry Information.

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

P Antispyware 09 1.8

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [P Antispyware 09] "C:\Program Files\P Antispyware 09\pas.exe" /autorun

Guide Updates:

04/14/09 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for P Antispyware 09 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 P Antispyware 09 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 PAntispyware09 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 PAntispyware09 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 P Antispyware 09 Files:

c:\Program Files\P Antispyware 09
c:\Program Files\P Antispyware 09\killtask.bat
c:\Program Files\P Antispyware 09\pas.exe
c:\Program Files\P Antispyware 09\unins000.dat
c:\Program Files\P Antispyware 09\unins000.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pantispyware09.com
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pantispyware09.com\P Antispyware 09
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pantispyware09.com\P Antispyware 09\BASE
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pantispyware09.com\P Antispyware 09\DELETED
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pantispyware09.com\P Antispyware 09\LOG
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pantispyware09.com\P Antispyware 09\LOG\20090414095452479.log
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pantispyware09.com\P Antispyware 09\SAVED
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\P Antispyware 09
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\P Antispyware 09\P Antispyware 09.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\P Antispyware 09\Uninstall P Antispyware 09.lnk

Associated P Antispyware 09 Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\pantispyware09.com
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\P Antispyware 09_is1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "P Antispyware 09"