Windows Proactive Safety

What is Windows Proactive Safety and how to remove it?

Windows Proactive Safety is a fake antivirus program created by Internet criminals who are making money from unsuspecting computer users who falls for the trickery shown by this rogue software and purchases it's licence. This bogus program is created to imitate a real security scanner - it displays security check-ups and shows warning messages. The main difference between Windows Proactive Safety and a legitimate antivirus program is that this program is malicious and it doesn't actually perform a security scan - this process is imitated to scare PC users into believing that their computers have serious security issues.

The detection list that is generated after the imaginary security scan is totally false - none of the security infections that are indicated by Windows Proactive Safety exist on your PC. Internet criminals who are responsible for creating this fake antivirus program are hoping that you will "activate ultimate protection" (purchase a licence for Windows Proactive Safety). You shouldn't do that, you will send your money to Cyber criminals and your computer will still be infected with this malicious program. This fake security scanner is not something new (apart from it's name) - it comes from a family of fake anti-viruses called "FakeVimes", this family is known for a large number of rogues that are released every day. Previous variants of Windows Proactive Safety were called Windows Maintenance Guard, Windows Secure Web Patch, Windows Active Defender and many other.

If you notice Windows Proactive Safety or a similar looking program which constantly shows security warning messages and performs a security check-up every time you boot your operating system you can be sure that you are dealing with a fake antivirus software. Your PC could have got infected with this malicious software while you clicked on an online security warning message or you might have been tricked into downloading it by a fake online security scan. You shouldn't trust such online security pop-ups or scans, most commonly they are fake and the main goal of generating them is tricking PC users into downloading rogue programs such as Windows Proactive Safety. When installed on your PC this bogus software will immediately begin a security scan which will end up in generation of a big list of detected security infections, furthermore you won't be able to launch your programs and your Task Manager will be blocked. Ignore these modifications and security scans, they are fake, use this step-by-step removal guide to remove Windows Proactive Safety from your computer.

Windows Proactive Safety generates 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 Proactive Safety removal:

Before downloading the remover for Windows Proactive Safety 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 Proactive Safety

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 Proactive Safety 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 Proactive Safety 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.

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 Proactive Safety from your computer.

Step 5
After removing Windows Proactive Safety, 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 Proactive Safety will be removed.

Other tools known to remove Windows Proactive Safety:

• iS3 STOPzilla
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

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 Proactive Safety removal:

If you were unable to remove Windows Proactive Safety 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 Proactive Safety 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 Proactive Safety 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 Proactive Safety files:

%StartMenu%\Programs\Windows Proactive Safety.lnk
%AppData%\Protector.exe (NOTE: this file may have various symbols at the end of it's name. Look for the similar file name pattern and remove it)
%AppData%\result.db
%Desktop%\Windows Proactive Safety.lnk

Other tips, that might help remove Windows Proactive Safety

• 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.