Antivirus Live Removal Free Instructions
This Virus is a complete bitch to remove. Reason being it looks like a Virus Scanner. I have found the best way to do this is to boot up in safe mode and hit F8 key while booting and use choose Windows Safe mode. Then go to run and type “regedit” and delete the registry entries listed below.
Then run quick scan for Malware also download free avg virus scan if you don’t have it yet.
What this programs does:
Antivirus Live is a rogue anti-spy ware and ransom ware program from the same family as Antivirus System Pro. This infection is installed on your computer through Trojans that install it automatically without your permission. Once installed, Antivirus Live will be configured to start automatically when Windows starts. Once running it will scan your computer and display numerous infections, but will state it will not remove them until you purchase the program. In reality, the scan results it detects are all fake and do not actually exist on your computer.
This program is also very aggressive in how it protects itself from being removed. While the Antivirus Live process is running it will terminate almost all programs that you launch stating that they are infected. It will also change the Proxy settings in Internet Explorer so that you can not browse to any site other than the Antivirus Live site so that you can purchase the program. Using these two methods, the program essentially ransoms the normal use of your computer until you purchase the program or use the guide below to remove the infection.
Antivirus Live 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 Antivirus Live is running you will also see numerous security warnings, alerts, and windows appear that try to convince you that you are infected. For example, you will be shown a window that impersonates the legitimate Windows Security Center. The difference is that the infection’s version will suggest that you purchase Antivirus Live, while the legitimate version does not suggest any particular program. The infection will also show numerous alerts stating that your computer is infected, sending sensitive data to the Internet, or being attacked by remote connections. Just like the fake scan results, these alerts are just another method that the program is trying to convince you that you have a security problem and should be ignored.
As you can see, Antivirus Live was created with one purpose in mind; to scam you out of your money by making you think your computer is infected. It goes without saying that you should not purchase this program, and if you already have, please contact your credit card company and dispute the charges stating the program is a scam. Finally, to remove this infection please use the free removal guide below.
Threat Classification:
Advanced information:
View Antivirus Live files.
View Antivirus Live Registry Information.
Tools Needed for this fix:
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O4 – HKLM\..\Run: [<random>] %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\<random>\<random>sysguard.exe
Guide Updates:
12/07/09 – Initial guide creation.
Automated Removal Instructions for Antivirus Live using Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware:
- Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
- It is possible that the infection you are trying to remove will not allow you to download files on the infected computer. If you run into this problem when following the steps in this guide you will need to download the files requested in this guide on 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.
- Reboot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking using the instructions for your version of Windows found in the following tutorial:
How to start Windows in Safe Mode
When following the steps in the above tutorial, select Safe Mode with Networking rather than just Safe Mode. When the computer reboots into Safe Mode with Networking make sure you login with the username you normally use. When you are at your Windows desktop, please continue with the rest of the steps.
- This infection changes your Internet Explorer settings to use a proxy server that will not allow you to browse any pages on the Internet. Therefore, if you only have Internet Explorer installed, we will first need need to fix this problem so that we can download the utilities we need to remove this infection. If you already have another browser installed, then you can skip to step 8 to proceed with the removal instructions. I still advise that you do all of these steps so that Internet Explorer works as well.Please start Internet Explorer, and when the program is open, click on the Tools menu and then select Internet Options as shown in the image below.
- You should now be in the Internet Options screen as shown in the image below.
Now click on the Connections tab as designated by the blue arrow above.
- You will now be at the Connections tab as shown by the image below.
Now click on the Lan Settings button as designated by the blue arrow above.
- You will now be at the Local Area Network (LAN) settings screen as shown by the image below.
Under the Proxy Server section, please uncheck the checkbox labeled Use a proxy server for your LAN. Then press the OK button to close this screen. Then press the OK button to close the Internet Options screen. Now that you have disabled the proxy server you will be able to browse the web again with Internet Explorer.
- Now we must end the processes that belong to Antivirus Live so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, download the following file to your desktop.rkill.com Download Link
If you are unable to connect to the site to download rkill, please go back and do steps 3-6 again and make sure the infection has not reenabled the proxy settings. You may have to do this quite a few times before you can get the rkill.com file downloaded. If you still cannot download the rkill.com program on the infected computer, you should download it to a clean computer and copy it to the infected one via a USB flash drive or CDROM.
- Once it is downloaded, double-click on the rkill.com in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Antivirus Live 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 Antivirus Live 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 Antivirus Live . So, please try running Rkill until malware is no longer running. You will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. Do not reboot your computer after running rkill as the malware programs will start again.
- Now you should download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Download Link
If you are unable to connect to the site to download Malwarebytes’, please go back and do steps 3-6 again and make sure the infection has not reenabled the proxy settings.
- 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. If MalwareBytes’ prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
- 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 Antivirus Live 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 AntivirusLive 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 AntivirusLive 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 Posting A Hijackthis Log
Associated Antivirus Live Files:
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\<random>\
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\<random>\<random>sysguard.exe
Associated Antivirus Live Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AvScan
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download “RunInvalidSignatures” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyOverride” = “”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyServer” = “http=127.0.0.1:5555″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations “LowRiskFileTypes” = “.exe”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “<random>”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “<random>”
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