How to remove PC-Antispy (Removal Guide)
Posted by Lawrence Abrams on July 6, 2008 @ 02:38 PM · Views: 15,931
What this infection does:
PC-Antispy is a misleading, or rogue, anti-spyware program
that displays false results that cannot be removed unless you first purchase
the software. Once you install PC-Antispy, the program will automatically scan
your computer and display a variety of supposed security risks on your computer.
These risks, though, are all false positives and are typically harmless or even
legitimate entries.
PC Antispy screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 2 images you can view.
This guide will walk you through removing the PC Antispy program and any associated
malware for free.
Threat Classification:
Advanced information:
View PC-Antispy files.
View PC-Antispy Registry Information.
Entries for this program found in the Add or Remove Programs control panel:
PC-Antispy
Tools Needed for this fix:
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O2 - BHO: PC-Antispy Site Blocker Button - {60B244BE-559D-4269-B96E-CD264D828EC9} - C:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\ASpyStBlk.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PC-Antispy] "C:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\PC-Antispy.exe" hide
O4 - Startup: .protected
O4 - Global Startup: .protected
Guide Updates:
07/06/08 - Initial guide creation.
Automated Removal Instructions for PC-Antispy using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
- Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that
is open later in the fix.
- 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)
- Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including
this one.
- Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe.
This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
PC-Antispy
related files.
- 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.
- 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 PC Antispy removal process.
- You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should
click on the Show Results button.
- 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.
- 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.
- You can now exit the MBAM program.
Your computer should now be free of the PC Antispy 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
Associated PC-Antispy Files:
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\ASpyPopUpBlk.dll
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\ASpyStBlk.dll
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\PC-Antispy.db
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\PC-Antispy.exe
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\pcantispy.pkg
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\program.info
c:\Program Files\PC-Antispy\Uninstall.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC-Antispy
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC-Antispy\Register PC-Antispy.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC-Antispy\Start PC-Antispy.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PC-Antispy\Uninstall PC-Antispy.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\.protected
c:\Documents and Settings\BC\Application Data\PC-Antispy
c:\Documents and Settings\BC\Application Data\PC-Antispy\config.xml
c:\Documents and Settings\BC\Application Data\PC-Antispy\Sites.bl
c:\Documents and Settings\BC\Application Data\PC-Antispy\logs
c:\Documents and Settings\BC\Application Data\PC-Antispy\logs\1215368563.log
c:\Documents and Settings\BC\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\.protected
c:\Documents and Settings\BC\Application Data\PC-Antispy\startup
c:\.protected
c:\WINDOWS\.protected
c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\.protected
c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\pcantispy.sys
Associated PC-Antispy Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PC-Antispy
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PC-Antispy\SiteBlocker
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{60B244BE-559D-4269-B96E-CD264D828EC9}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{60B244BE-559D-4269-B96E-CD264D828EC9}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\PC-Antispy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\PC-Antispy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_PCANTISPY
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\pcantispy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_PCANTISPY
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\pcantispy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "PC-Antispy"
RSS
