How to Remove Antivirus Pro (Uninstall Guide)

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Antivirus Pro pretends to be an anti-virus program and displays fake virus infection alerts in an effort to convince you that your computer is infected with spyware, Trojans and other malicious software. It's worth mentioning that this fake AV only pretends to scan your computer. It reports the same predefined infections on different computers. Needless to say, Antivirus Pro is nothing more but a scam. Not to mention the poor spelling used in some of the alerts clearly indicates that it's not a legitimate security product. However, the fake antivirus application looks pretty much the same as Microsoft Windows Defender, meaning it looks rather professional. Inexperienced users could be easily fooled into paying to remove fake viruses "detected" by the rogue software. Antivirus Pro is not a virus, per se. It can not delete or modify your files. That's why the threat potential remains low. If you were browsing the web and stumbled upon this rogue antivirus application, please follow the steps in the removal guide below to remove Antivirus Pro and related malware from your computer.

Antivirus Pro is distributed through the use of fake Windows screens that tell you a virus has been detected on your computer. The rogue program also comes from infected websites and spam emails. Cyber criminals use social engineering to trick as many people as possible into installing their bogus software. Related malware: Antivirus Center.

Antivirus Pro runs every time Windows starts. It uses the rundll32.exe application to launch functionality stored in a .dat file. So, if you open up the list of running processes in the Task Manager, you won't see any .dat file running but rather just the rundll32.exe. It may block some other programs on your computer and hijack your web browsers. What is more, Antivirus Center displays a bunch of fake security alerts labeled "Antivirus Center" and "Antivirus Center Firewall Alert" saying that your computer is infected by Spyware.IEMonster and some key loggers that may send your sensitive information to remote servers.

Antivirus Pro also opens web pages for pornographic web sites in your web browser every few minutes. This is most likely to make you think that you are infected by a virus, and that paying for Antivirus Pro will remove all viruses from your computer. Under no circumstances should you purchase Antivirus Pro. If you already did, you will need to cancel your credit card. To stop the annoying alerts, you can use this code D13F-3B7D-B3C5-BD84 to activate the rogue program. Then please follow the removal instructions below. Good luck and be safe online!

Antivirus Pro removal instructions (in Safe Mode with Networking):

1. Reboot your computer is "Safe Mode with Networking". As the computer is booting tap the "F8 key" continuously which should bring up the "Windows Advanced Options Menu" as shown below. Use your arrow keys to move to "Safe Mode with Networking" and press Enter key. Login as the same user you were previously logged in with in the normal Windows mode. Read more detailed instructions here: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm

2. Download free anti-malware software from the list below and run a full system scan.

NOTE: in some cases the rogue program may block anti-malware software. Before saving the selected program onto your computer, you may have to rename the installer to iexplore.exe, explorer.exe or winlogon.exe With all of these tools, if running Windows 7 or Vista they MUST be run as administrator. Launch the program and follow the prompts. Don't forget to update the installed program before scanning.

3. New threats appear every day. In order to protect your PC from such (new) infections we strongly recommend you to use ESET Smart Security.

Alternate Antivirus Pro removal instructions:

1. Download iexplore.exe (NOTE: iexplore.exe file is renamed HijackThis tool from TrendMicro).
Launch the iexplore.exe and click "Do a system scan only" button.
If you can't open iexplore.exe file then download explorer.scr and run it.

2. Search for such entry in the scan results (Windows XP):
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS] rundll32.exe "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].dat", [SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS]
O4 - Startup: [SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].lnk = C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe

Select all similar entries and click once on the "Fix checked" button. Close HijackThis tool.

3. Download free anti-malware software from the list below and run a full system scan.

NOTE: in some cases the rogue program may block anti-malware software. Before saving the selected program onto your computer, you may have to rename the installer to iexplore.exe, explorer.exe or winlogon.exe. With all of these tools, if running Windows 7 or Vista they MUST be run as administrator. Launch the program and follow the prompts. Don't forget to update the installed program before scanning.

4. New threats appear every day. In order to protect your PC from such (new) infections we strongly recommend you to use ESET Smart Security.

Associated Antivirus Pro files and registry values:

Files:

Windows XP

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].dat
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].ico
C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Desktop\Antivirus Pro.lnk
C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Local Settings\Temp\[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].tmp

Windows Vsita/7

C:\ProgramData\[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].dat
C:\ProgramData\[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].ico
C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Local\Temp\[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS].tmp

Registry values:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography MachineGuid = "[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS]"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List "C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe" = "C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe:*:Enabled:Antivirus Center"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "[SET OF RANDOM CHARACTERS]"

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