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Remove Paladin Antivirus (Uninstall Guide)

Posted by Grinler on February 7, 2010 @ 11:56 AM · Views: 49,087

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What this infection does:

Paladin Antivirus is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Malware Defense. This rogue is installed and promoted through the use of Trojans that will install it on to your computer without your permission. Once installed, it will scan through the list of programs installed on your computer, and if it finds certain legitimate anti-malware programs, will prompt you to uninstall them. Some of the programs that it will attempt to remove are:

  • F-Secure
  • Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • NOD32
  • Agnitum Outpost Security Suite
  • Avira AntiVir
  • avast!
  • AntiVir
  • AVG8
  • Norton Internet Security

When installed, Paladin Antivirus will be configured to start automatically when your computer loads. Once started, it will scan your computer and detect numerous infections. These infections, though, are all fake or legitimate programs that should not be deleted. Therefore, please do not act upon any of the scan results that this program may show.

 

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

 

While Paladin Antivirus is running it will also display numerous security alerts on your desktop. These alerts will state that the program you are running is infected or that your computer is being attacked. Some of the messages you may see are:

Network Intrusion Detected!
Your computer is being attacked from a remote PC.
Process is trying to steal your passwords listed below. It is highly recommended to block this threat now.
You are using a trial version.
It is recommended to purchase a commercial version.

Adware module detected on your PC!
Zlob.Porn.Ad adware has been detected. This adware module advertises websites with explicit content. Be advised of such content being possibly illegal. Please click the button below to locate and remove this threat now.

Just like the scan results, these security alerts are all fake and should be ignored.

Without a doubt, Paladin Antivirus was designed to scare you into thinking that you are infected so that you will then purchase the program. If you have already purchased the program, then please contact your credit card company and dispute the charges. Finally, please use the guide below to remove Paladin Antivirus and any related malware for free.

 

Threat Classification:

 

Advanced information:

View Paladin Antivirus files.
View Paladin Antivirus Registry Information.

 

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

Paladin Antivirus

 

Tools Needed for this fix:

 

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Paladin Antivirus] "C:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus\pav.exe" -noscan

 

Guide Updates:

02/07/10 - Initial guide creation.
02/14/10 - Changed instructions on how to remove this infection.

 


Automated Removal Instructions for Paladin Antivirus 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 find this is the case when following these instructions, then you will need to download the requested files in this guide to 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. Before we do anything, we must end the processes that belong to Paladin Antivirus so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, download the following file to your desktop.
    rkill.com Download Link
  4. Once it is downloaded, double-click on the rkill.com in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Paladin Antivirus 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 Paladin Antivirus 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 Paladin Antivirus . 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. If you continue having problems running rkill.com, you can download iExplore.exe or eXplorer.exe, which are renamed copies of rkill.com, and try them instead.

    Do not reboot your computer after running rkill as the malware programs will start again.


  5. Now you should 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)
  6. When the file has finished downloading, look on your desktop for mbam-setup.exe and right-click on it and select Rename. The title of the program will now have a blinking cursor where you can edit the name. Please change the name of the program to Explorer.exe.

  7. After you rename the mbam-setup.exe to Explorer.exe, close all your programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.

  8. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named Explorer.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.

  9. 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 and is at the last screen, make sure you uncheck both of the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware check boxes. Then click on the Finish button. If Malwarebytes' prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.

    If you receive a code 2 error while installing Malwarebytes's, please press the OK button to close these errors as we will resolve them in future steps. The code 2 error will look similar to the image below.


    Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Screen

  10. As this infection deletes a core executable of Malwarebytes', or does not allow it to run, we will need to download a new copy of it and put it in the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder. To download the file please click on the following link:

    Malwarebytes' EXE Download
    When your browser prompts you where to save it to, please save it to the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder. When downloading the file, it will have a random filename. Please leave the filename the way it is as it is important that it is not changed. You may want to write down the name of the file as you will need to know the name in the next step.

  11. Once the file has been downloaded, open the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder and double-click on the file you downloaded in step 10. MBAM will now start and you will be at the main program screen as shown below.


    Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Screen

  12. Before you can perform a scan, you must first update the program. To do this click on the Update tab, and that at the new screen click on the Check for Updates button. Malwarebytes' will now check for new updates and download and install them as necessary. When the update is completed, you will be prompted with a message stating either that you already have the latest updates or that they have been updated. Either way, you should now click on the OK button to continue.

  13. Now click on the Scanner tab and make sure the the Perform full scan option is selected. Then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Paladin Antivirus related files.

  14. 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.


    MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Scanning Screen

  15. When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.


    MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Scan Finished Screen

    You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the Paladin Antivirus removal process.

  16. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.

  17. 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.


    MalwareBytes Scan Results


    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.

  18. 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.

  19. You can now exit the MBAM program.

  20. You can also delete the Explorer.exe program from your desktop.

Your computer should now be free of the Paladin Antivirus 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

 


 

Associated Paladin Antivirus Files:

%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Paladin Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Paladin Antivirus Support.lnk
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Paladin Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Paladin Antivirus
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Paladin Antivirus\Paladin Antivirus Support.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Paladin Antivirus\Paladin Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Paladin Antivirus\Uninstall Paladin Antivirus.lnk
c:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus
c:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus\help.ico
c:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus\pav.db
c:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus\pav.exe
c:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus\pavext.dll
c:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus\phook.dll
c:\Program Files\Paladin Antivirus\uninstall.exe

 

Associated Paladin Antivirus Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Paladin Antivirus
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paladin Antivirus

 


 

This is a self-help guide. Use at your own risk.

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 AntiVirus, Firewall and Privacy Products and Protection Methods forum and someone will help you.

 

 



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