Windows Antivirus Care - how to remove?
Windows Antivirus Care is a rogue application which imitates a real antivirus program and tries to scare PC users into thinking that their computers has sever security infections. This fake software comes from a big family of rogue antivirus programs named "FakeVimes", this family has nearly one hundred members which all shares the same interface. Windows Antivirus Care and it's predecessors all uses the same tricking method to install themselves on user's computer. These bogus programs are promoted using misleading websites which shows fake alert messages from Microsoft Security Essentials.
Internet criminals are using the name of a legitimate antivirus program to make their security warning appear more real. You shouldn't trust such pop-up messages which appear while you are surfing the Internet, most commonly they are fake and they are used to install rogue software such as Windows Antivirus Care on your computer. You should understand that there's no way how such online pop-ups could detect any of the security infections that could be on your PC - these messages are pre-genereated and are designed to trick you. This rogue software is a variant of it's previous versions called Windows Guard Solutions, Windows Safety Manager, Windows Antivirus Patch.
Windows Antivirus Care uses several methods to scare you into believing that your computer is at risk: first this program will pretend to perform security scans which ends up in malware detection, secondly it will generates security warning pop-ups and last but not least it will modify your operating system so you won't be able to execute any of your programs and your task manager will be disabled. By combining all of these mentioned methods Windows Antivirus Care is trying to convince you that your computer is highly infected and that only this program could help you fix all of these problems. In reality none of the threats indicated by this bogus program exist on your PC, Windows Antivirus Care is showing false information in order to sell it's useless licence key. You shouldn't even consider buying this program, it's a scam which should be eliminated from your PC.
Windows Antivirus Care shows such fake warning messages:
"Warning! Virus Detected Threat detected: FTP Server Infected file: C:\Windows\System32\dllcache\wmploc.dll"
"Warning! Identity theft attempt Detected Hidden connection IP: 58.82.12.124 Target: Your passwords for sites"
"Error Key-logger activity detected. System information security is at risk. It is recommended to activate protection and run a full system scan"
Windows Antivirus Care removal instructions:
Before downloading the remover for Windows Antivirus Care click a question mark icon at the top of the main window of this program, choose "Activate Now" and enter this registration code: 0W000-000B0-00T00-E0020 This will enable blocked Windows functions and will make the further removal process much easier, after entering the activation code continue to downloading the spyware remover.
remover for Windows Antivirus Care
If you can't download or run spyware remover try running registry fix (link below). It enables execution of programs. download registryfix.reg file, double click it, click YES and then OK.
Manual Windows Antivirus Care removal instructions:
Step 1
Start your computer in safe mode. Click Start, then click Shut down. Select Restart and click OK. During your computer starting process press F8 key on your keyboard multiple times until Windows Advanced Options menu shows up, then select Safe mode with networking from the list and press ENTER.
Step 2
Now we need to remove proxy settings. Windows Antivirus Care adds a proxy to your Internet connection settings to show various errors when you try to access Internet. To do this, open Internet explorer, click Tools and select Internet Options. Then select the "Connections" tab.
In the "Connections" tab, click LAN settings, if a "Use a proxy server for your LAN" is checked, uncheck it and press OK. Sometimes Windows Antivirus Care could hide this setting from you, and you could see that proxy setting is disabled, while actually it could be enabled, but not shown up in these settings. If a "Use a proxy server for your LAN" is unchecked, It is recommended to check it then un-check it and then click OK.
Step 3
Download HijackThis and save it on your desktop. Some malicious programs are able to block HijackThis so when you click the download link, in the Save dialog rename HijackThis.exe to iexplore.exe and only then click the Save button. After saving the file on your desktop, double click it. In the main HijackThis window click “Do a system scan only” button. Select these entries (place a tick at the left of the entry):
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Inspector] %AppData%\Protector.exe (Protector.exe file may have 3 or more random characters at the end of it's file name like ProtectionGQY.exe)
After selecting required entries, click "Fix Checked" and these entries will be removed. After this procedure you can close HijackThis and proceed to the next removal step.
Step 4
Download a legitimate anti-spyware software to fully remove Windows Antivirus Care from your computer. We recommend using Spyware Doctor 2012 version
Step 5
After removing Windows Antivirus Care, you will need to reset your Hosts file. Don't skip this step, this malware modifies your Hosts files, and you will encounter browser redirect problems if malicious entries will not be removed from hosts file.
Hosts file is used to resolve some canonical names of websites to IP addresses. When it is changed, the user may be redirected to malicious site still seeing good URL in address bar. It is very hard to find out if the site is genuine or not, when hosts file is modified. To fix this, please download Microsoft Fix It tool, that restores your hosts file to Windows default. Run this tool when downloaded and follow the on-screen instructions. Download link below:
Finish
After doing all these steps your computer should be clean. Windows Antivirus Care will be removed.
Other tools known to remove Windows Antivirus Care:
Some malicious software modifies browser settings and disables downloads of spyware and virus removing software. If you have problems downloading anti-spyware software with Internet Explorer, try downloading with Chrome, FireFox, Opera, etc.
If you can't access Internet:
Load your computer in safe mode. Click Start, click Shut down, click Restart, click OK. During your computer starting process press F8 key on your keyboard multiple times until you see Windows Advanced Option menu, then select Safe mode with networking from the list.
Start Task manager. Press ctrl+alt+del (or ctrl+shift+esc) and end task the processes of rogue program. ( if after this procedure you can't access any programs press ctrl+alt+del, click File, select New Task, and type explorer.exe then press OK.
Open Internet explorer, click Tools and select Internet Options. Select Connections, then click LAN settings, if a Use a proxy server for your LAN is checked, un-check it and press OK.
After this procedure you should be able to access Internet. Now you can download anti-spyware software from our "Top spyware removers" section and run a full scan. Download, install and don't forget to update your selected anti-spyware program. Then run a full system scan.
Manual Windows Antivirus Care removal:
If you were unable to remove Windows Antivirus Care using the steps above, you can use this manual removal instruction. Use it at your own risk. If you don't have strong computer knowledge you could harm your operating system. Be careful and use it only if you are an experienced computer user. (Instructions on how to end processes, remove registry entries...)
End these Windows Antivirus Care processes:
random.exe
Protector.exe (Protector.exe file may have 3 or more random characters at the end of it's file name like ProtectionGQY.exe)
Remove these Windows Antivirus Care registry entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\_avp32.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ashLogV.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\beagle.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\jedi.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\msa.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ntvdm.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\rav7.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\spoler.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\vir-help.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\wupdt.exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings "WarnOnHTTPSToHTTPRedirect" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableRegedit" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableRegistryTools" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableTaskMgr" = 0
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Inspector"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Settings "net
Delete these Windows Antivirus Care files:
%StartMenu%\Programs\Windows Antivirus Care.lnk
%AppData%\Protector.exe (NOTE: this file may have various symbols at the end of it's name. Look for the similar file name patern and remove it)
%AppData%\result.db
%Desktop%\Windows Antivirus Care.lnk
Please note: as the malware constantly changes it's behaviour, these registry keys might be slightly different on your computer, depending on the Windows Antivirus Care version.
Other tips, that might help remove Windows Antivirus Care
- If you can't download anti-spyware software: Click on the download link, when the save dialog opens change the file name (example: when downloading mbam-setup.exe rename it to iexplore.exe).
- If you have installed anti-spyware program but you can't run it do the following steps:
- Click Run, type %ProgramFiles% and press Enter. Open folder of your anti-spyware program, search for executable file and rename it. (example: Open Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware folder, right-click on the main executable file (mbam.exe) then click rename. Rename the mbam.exe file to iexplore.exe, winlogon.exe firefox.exe or other known executable file.
- If you can't access your anti-spyware software, try creating a new user account:
Click Start -> Settings -> Control panel.
Click User Accounts and create a new account.
Reboot your computer and log in using a newly created user account.
After this procedure you should be able to access your anti-spyware programs. Update and run a full system scan.