How to uninstall and remove Virus Alarm

Posted by Grinler on March 25, 2009 @ 09:55 PM · Views: 1,880

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What this programs does:

Virus Alarm is a clone of the rogue anti-spyware programs named Virus Doctor and Virus Melt. These programs are advertised through the use of Trojans that display alerts stating that your computer is infected or has a security risk. When you click on these alerts, it will download and install Virus Alarm on to your computer without your permission. The Virus Alarm family of rogues have started to use an interesting way of installing itself; the use of the Google Code repository as a method of distributing their malware. The use of Google Code was discovered by security researcher Bharath M Narayan when he was analyzing how Virus Melt was being installed. When hosts are discovered distributing malware, they are typically blacklisted so that you cannot reach them. By using a site such as Google to distribute the code, though, you almost guarantee a distribution channel that will not be easily blocked.

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

When Virus Alarm is installed it will be setup to start automatically on your computer. When running, it will scan your computer for malware and when done state that your computer is infected with numerous infections that will not be removed unless you purchase the program. The results, though, are actually fake and the infections that is states reside on your computer do not even exist. Also, when the program is running you will constantly be bombarded with nag screens and fake security warnings stating that your computer is under attack or has active malware. These alerts, nag screens, and the fake infection results are only being shown to scare you into thinking you are infected. Instead of being fooled and purchasing this program, please use the free removal instructions below to remove Virus Alarm and the Trojans that are installed.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Virus Alarm files.
View Virus Alarm Registry Information.

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

Virus Alarm

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Virus Alarm] "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\17d4\VAlarm.exe" /s

Guide Updates:

03-25-09 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Virus Alarm 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 Virus Alarm 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 VirusAlarm 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 VirusAlarm 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 Virus Alarm Files:

%UserProfile%\Application Data\Virus Alarm
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\17d4
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\17d4\unins000.dat
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\17d4\VAlarm.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\17d4\SysData
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\17d4\SysData\vd952342.bd
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\7c69f0c
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\7c69f0c\VMelt.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SysData
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SysData\avcfg.ini

Associated Virus Alarm Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Virus Alarm
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{3F2BBC05-40DF-11D2-9455-00104BC936FF}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VAlarm.DocHostUIHandler
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform "6204703"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Virus Alarm"