How to remove WinPC Antivirus (Removal Guide)

Posted by Grinler on April 2, 2009 @ 08:07 PM · Views: 48,219

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What this programs does:

WinPC Antivirus is a rogue program from the same family as WinPC Defender. This program is advertised through the use of malware that displays fake security alerts and pop-ups on your computer. These alerts state that your computer is infected and that you should download and install WinPC Antivirus in order to clean your computer. Once the program is downloaded and installed it will be configured to start automatically. When it is started it will scan your computer and display a variety of infections on your computer. The files it states are infections, though, do not actually exist on your computer. They are only being shown to you to try and convince you that you are infected so that you purchase the program.

WinPC Antivirus screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 8 images you can view.

When the program is running you will also continue to see a variety of security alerts on your computer. One alert pretends to be a firewall alert stating that your computer is sending sensitive information to a remote host. Another alert states that a self-replicating file was found and that you need to remove it with WinPC Antivirus. All of these nag screens are being shown for one purposes; to scam you into thinking you are infected with false information so that you purchase the program. Instead of purchasing the program, please ignore the warnings and instead use the removal guide below in order to remove this infection and the malware that promoted it.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View WinPC Antivirus files.
View WinPC Antivirus Registry Information.

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [sysav] %UserProfile%\Application Data\winav.exe

Guide Updates:

04-02-09 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for WinPC Antivirus 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 full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for WinPC Antivirus 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 WinPCAntivirus 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 WinPCAntivirus 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 WinPC Antivirus Files:

%UserProfile%\Application Data\winav.exe
%UserProfile%\Desktop\WinPC Antivirus.LNK
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\WinPC Antivirus.LNK

Associated WinPC Antivirus Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\WinPC Antivirus
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\don't load "scui.cpl"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\don't load "wscui.cpl"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "sysav"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center "AntiVirusDisableNotify" => 1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center "FirewallDisableNotify" => 1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center "UpdatesDisableNotify" => 1