Secure Antivirus Pro is a rogue anti-spyware supposedly created by GuardDog Computing, Ltd. This program, though does not actually clean your computer as advertised. Instead it will pretend to scan it and then display results stating that your computer is infected with a variety of malware. None of these infections, though, are actually real. Tthey are just being shown to you in order to scare you into thinking you are infected so that you purchase Secure Antivirus Pro. While running, Secure Antivirus Pro will also display fake security warnings stating that Identity Theft has been detected or that you are infected with the Virut virus. These alerts are just further ways the program is trying to convince you that you are infected. The Virut alert that you may see is:

It seems that your computer is infected with W32:Virut virus. This threat has been designed to steal money, Internet accounts, send massive amounts of spam, and commit various kinds of fraud.
It is recommended that you remove this threat immediately to avoid participating in criminal activity.
Do you want to remove Virut now?

 

Screen shot of Secure Antivirus Pro
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 2 images you can view.

 

If you are infected with this malware, under no circumstances should you purchase it. Instead, please use the removal guide below to remove this rogue for free.

 

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

 

Advanced information:

View Secure Antivirus Pro files.
View Secure Antivirus Pro Registry Information.

 

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

 

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Secure AntiVirus Pro] C:\WINDOWS\av.exe

 

Guide Updates:

05/15/09 - Initial guide creation.
05/16/09 - Updated for registry information.

 

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Automated Removal Instructions for Secure 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 (Download page will open in a new window)
   
   


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 full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Secure 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 Secure 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 Secure 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 Using Malware Removal Tools and Requesting Help

 

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Associated Secure Antivirus Pro Files:

C:\Windows\av.exe

 

Associated Secure Antivirus Pro Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Secure AntiVirus Pro"

 

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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.