What is XP Antivirus 2013 and how to remove it from your PC?
XP Antivirus 2013 is a fake antivirus program developed by Cyber criminals. This fake security scanner is created with a sole purpose of stealing money from unsuspecting PC users who falls for the trickery shown by this rogue software and purchases it's useless licence key. While the interface and the processes of XP Antivirus 2013 are similar to legitimate antivirus programs in reality this program is rogue - it pretends to detect security infections on users computer which doesn't actually exist.
Furthermore it modifies the registry entries of infiltrated computer's operating system - it sets itself to start automatically on every system start-up and blocks computer user's Internet browsers and installed programs from launching. All of these modifications are made to further scare PC user into believing that their computers have serious security issues and that the only security program that could fix them is XP Antivirus 2013. Notice that this rogue software originates from a family of fake security scanners called Braviax and thus it is a able to adapt it's name according to what operating system it infiltrates - for example if this bogus program would infect Windows 7 operating system, it would change it's name to Win 7 Antivirus 2013, Windows Vista users would see this scam as Vista Antivirus 2013. PC users should know that this program is a total scam, don't trust any information that it shows - the right way of treating this program is it's removal from one's computer.
Notice that there are 3 variants of XP Antivirus 2013 rogue antivirus program, here are the screenshots of each using different user interface:
In reality XP Antivirus 2013 is a useless program which doesn't have any of the features required for a legitimate security suite, if you PC is infiltrated with this bogus software you should ignore all of the warning messages and security scans shown by it. XP Antivirus 2013 infects users computers using exploit kits and Trojans. Cyber criminals are using various rogue methods and deceptive strategies to distribute this fake security program all over the Internet. PC users should be especially careful while opening attachments in their email messages, using P2P programs and visiting less known websites. Best practices of avoiding such bogus programs from entering your PC includes using legitimate antivirus and anti-spyware programs and frequently updating your operating system and all of the installed software. If you see XP Antivirus 2013 scanning your computer you should ignore the results and remove this scam from your computer. Don't purchase it's licence to remove the supposedly detected security infections - you will loose your money and your PC will remain infected.
How to remove XP Antivirus 2013?
IMPORTANT! Before downloading: Click "Registration" button which is located on the top right corner of the XP Antivirus 2013 program window, and when registration window opens enter this registry key in the "Reg key" field and click "Activate":
9443-077673-5028
1089-903874-1875
3425-814615-3990
When the registration key is entered, XP Antivirus 2013 will think, that you've purchased it and will stop generating fake warnings. It will also allow you to run programs and removers. Note, that registering this program will not remove it from your PC. It will just disable fake warnings. After you entered this key, you can download the recommended remover (use the button below) and get rid of this fake antivirus software.
NOTE: If installation of spyware remover fails, or you can't open .exe files you can try our Customized installer, built by our technicians to bypass spyware infections and install removers anyway. It is a DOS program, that most of rogue antivirus programs doesn't block.
If after or before removal you cannot run any program, this means XP Antivirus 2013 has modified your .exe file associations. When you try to run any executable, Windows opens "select program" dialog and doesn't execute program. To fix it, download registry fix (link below). Save it to your computer, double click it, click yes and then ok. Reboot your PC and file associations should work normally.
If You Can't open your browser (Internet explorer, firefox, Opera):
XP Antivirus 2013 virus hijacks web browser. This rogue program generates fake messages that almost every site you visit is infected. This is not true. If you can't use your browser, please follow these steps to remove this infection from infected PC:
IMPORTANT: You must perform these steps on infected computer. If you are using another computer to view this page, you don't need to do fixes, just download installer using download button, transfer it to infected computer via USB flash drive or other storage device and run it.
Step 1
At first, we need to fix execution of .exe files. XP Antivirus 2013 is known to disable execution of programs. To do this click Start then click Run.
When the Run dialog appears enter this link: www.pcrisk.com/xp-fix and then press ENTER.
File download dialog will appear saying you are downloading file xp_av_fix.reg. Click Run then click YES and OK. Registry should now be fixed and you will be able to run .exe files. XP Antivirus 2013 will generate fake warning before download, please ignore it and click "No, stay unprotected". Do not restart your computer after this step!
Step 2
Now when execution of programs is fixed, we need to download spyware removal software to remove this infection from your PC. To do this click Start then click Run. (same as on Step 1)
When the Run dialog appears enter this link: www.pcrisk.com/download-spyware-remover and then press ENTER.
File download dialog of spyware remover will appear. Click Run and follow the on-screen instructions and scan your computer. XP Antivirus 2013 will generate fake warning again, please ignore it and click "stay unprotected".
That's it. Your computer should now be clean.
NOTE: In some cases, depending on computer and operating system's configuration, methods described above can not always work. For such cases our developers made a custom installer. It is useful when you can't browse the Internet and can't execute .exe files. It starts like MS-Dos program, runs some registry fixes and rootkit scans then initiates execution of spyware remover installer. As we tested this installer worked on Windows 7, Windows Vista and XP, infected with most common spyware infections.
To use this installer click Start then click Run.
When the Run dialog appears enter this link: www.pcrisk.com/installer.com and then press ENTER.
XP Antivirus 2013 will generate fake warning after pressing ENTER. please ignore it and click "No, stay unprotected (Not recommended)"
File download dialog will appear saying you are downloading file installer.com. Click Run, wait for download to finish then follow the on-screen instructions. Windows may warn you that this file may be unsafe, please ignore these warnings.
If your Internet browser works, you can use this button to download customized installer.
Customized installer to break through this infection
XP Antivirus 2013 removal (using Reg Key)
If something goes wrong removing XP Antivirus 2013 using automatic removal method, you can try entering Reg Key to activate this spyware and disable fake warnings using the instructions below:
Step 1
When XP Antivirus 2013 finishes it's fake security scan, click the "register" button on the top-right corner of this program. And when the registration window is opened, click "Manual Activation"
Step 2
After XP Antivirus 2013 opens a Manual Activation window, enter key: 9443-077673-5028 or 3425-814615-3990 into the "Reg key:" field and click "Activate Now" button. After doing this XP Antivirus 2013 will thank you for the registration and will start removing all the "infections" it found. Don't worry, these infections are not real. When it removes the supposedly detected infections, another Update window appears. This rogue program will imitate the download of updates.
When the imitation of updates downloading is complete, your Internet browser should work normally and now you can download and install spyware remover to remove this infection (download button below). Note that activation does not remove XP Antivirus 2013. It only removes fake warnings, but not infection itself. It still runs in background and needs to be removed as soon as possible.
Step 3
Now You can download Spyware removal utility to fully remove this infection.
If installation or downloading fails:
If you still cannot run or download removal tool, download registry fix file. It enables normal execution of applications and fixes web browser errors. click on the link below, when download completes click run, click yes and then OK.
If the installation of spyware remover fails, you can try our Customized installer, built by our technicians to bypass infections and install removers anyway.
Manual XP Antivirus 2013 removal instructions
Some spyware can block downloading spyware removers. If You can't download it using default location, try one of the alternative download locations below:
- Location 1 (The file is renamed to "iexplore.exe" because most of spyware doesn't block this file)
- Location 2
If installation of the remover fails, please try downloading customized installer, which was built by our technicians to bypass spyware infections. Download customized installer
If you still can't download or can't run spyware removing software, please perform these steps:
Step 1
Download registry fix for XP Antivirus 2013 spyware. This fix removes registry entries, that disallows executing of programs in some variants of this spyware, to download it, click the link below. After downloading double click xp_av_fix.reg file, click Yes when asked and then click OK.
Step 2
Some variants of this spyware modifies system proxy settings and you can't access Internet or website addresses is redirected to malicious or phishing websites. To reset proxy settings to default, download and run this tool:
Step 3
XP Antivirus 2013 modifies system hosts file. It 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 FixIt tool, that restores your hosts file to windows default. Run this tool when downloaded and follow the on-screen instructions. Download link below:
Step 4
That's It! You can now try to download Spyware remover or install and run it if already downloaded. In most cases this leads to a success, if not, please describe your problem in our FORUM and our technicians will try to help you.
Remove XP Antivirus 2013 manually (advanced users):
If you are unable to remove XP Antivirus 2013 automatically , 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. Use it only if you are an experienced computer user. (Instructions on how to end processes, remove registry entries...)
1. Load your computer in safe mode with networking. 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.
2. Download registry fix file After saving the file to your desktop - double click fix.reg and then click YES to confirm.
3. Open Internet explorer, click Tools and select Internet Options. Select "Connections".
4.Click LAN settings, if a Use a proxy server for your LAN is checked, uncheck it and press OK.
Kill XP Antivirus 2013 processes:
[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe
Remove XP Antivirus 2013 registry entries:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe “(Default)” = ‘exefile’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe “Content Type” = ‘application/x-msdownload’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\DefaultIcon “(Default)” = ‘%1? = ‘”%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random].exe” /START “%1? %*’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\open\command “IsolatedCommand” = ‘”%1? %*’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\runas\command “(Default)” = ‘”%1? %*’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\runas\command “IsolatedCommand” = ‘”%1? %*’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\exefile “(Default)” = ‘Application’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\exefile “Content Type” = ‘application/x-msdownload’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\exefile\DefaultIcon “(Default)” = ‘%1?
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\exefile\shell\open\command “(Default)” = ‘”%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random].exe” /START “%1? %*’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\exefile\shell\open\command “IsolatedCommand” = ‘”%1? %*’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\exefile\shell\runas\command “(Default)” = ‘”%1? %*’
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\exefile\shell\runas\command “IsolatedCommand” – ‘”%1? %*’
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\shell\open\command “(Default)” = ‘”%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random].exe” /START “%1? %*’
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command “(Default)” = ‘”%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random].exe” /START “%1? %*’
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\shell\open\command “(Default)” = ‘”%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random].exe” /START “%Program Files%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”‘
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\shell\safemode\command “(Default)” = ‘”%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random].exe” /START “%Program Files%\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -safe-mode’
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\IEXPLORE.EXE\shell\open\command “(Default)” = ‘”%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random].exe” /START “%Program Files%\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”‘
Delete XP Antivirus 2013 files:
%AllUsersProfile%\[random]
%AppData%\Local\[random].exe
%AppData%\Local\[random]
%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates\[random]
5. Download recommended anti-spyware software fully remove XP Antivirus 2013 from your computer.
Other tools known to remove XP Antivirus 2013:
XP Antivirus 2013 removal. General tips:
*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: 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 ...
*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 login 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.
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, uncheck 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.
Additional information: