Technology

Remove Antivirus Plus and Regain Control

Antivirus Plus is malicious software that poses as antivirus protection but does nothing more than trick users into purchasing the full version so that the creators can delete fake viruses. This malware generates fake virus infection notifications and alerts of other adware and malware and redirects you to a phony Microsoft security page, implying that Microsoft endorses it.

It pretends to be endorsed by Microsoft’s security team by infecting your host’s file and modifying it to route you from security.microsoft.com to its false security website. A row like “66.249.93.104 security.microsoft.com” can be found in your host’s file. To avoid being redirected from the Microsoft website to their malware page, quickly remove this entry from the host file.

This malware operates in the same way as many others. When you visit malware sites directly or via links and redirects from warez sites, it will automatically install via pop-ups and infect your system. It will also create bogus online warnings to make you think your computer is in danger and that you need Antivirus Plus to fix it. When you install pirated software from torrent sites or so-called free software, it may potentially contain malware that was preloaded into your computer. This method of spreading viruses is not new, but it is effective since most people are too stupid to realize that it is not genuine antivirus software.

Installing the malware is just the beginning of the problems you will encounter. It will repeatedly warn you that your computer is infected with a virus or other malware and urge you to upgrade to a paid version of the antivirus plus tool bundle. This spyware will prevent you from browsing the web quickly by bombarding your system with error and virus pop-ups. However, do not provide them with your credit card information to purchase the antivirus plus premium version. The scammers will not send you any antivirus software in exchange for your credit card information. Still, they will make unauthorized charges to your account that serve no purpose but to line the criminals’ pockets with your money. You risk losing more than the cost of “full” Antivirus Plus and any other purchases made at the discretion of Antivirus Plus’s designers if you don’t catch on to the scam until you receive your credit card statement at the end of the month. If you’re smart, you’ll cancel your card before they share your credit card details with any other fraudsters.

It takes a few procedures to get rid of the infection. AntivirusPlus.exe, AntivirusPlus.grn, rundll32.exe, and dop.exe are only some of the processes that need to be terminated. The task manager’s process tab can be accessed by simultaneously pressing the CTRL, ALT, and DEL keys on your keyboard. You should halt each of the operations above, and if there is more than one such operation running, you should halt them all.

The next step is to remove any traces of Antivirus Plus from the computer’s registry. Find the following keys in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Get the latest version of “AntivirusPlus” and launch it.

Any references to “antivirus plus” in the registry should be removed; therefore, run a search for that term. If so, you must clear out some space before uninstalling antivirus plus. The appropriate executables are AntivirusPlus.exe, AntivirusPlus.grn, rundll32.exe, and dop.exe.

Now that Antivirus Plus has been removed from your system, you should restart your computer and verify that the processes in the Processes tab have been resumed. It should be free of unwanted files; if not, do the previous procedures again.

How to Remove XP Antivirus 2010 may be found at http://www.antivirusprotectionsoftware.org/How-To-Remove-XP-Antivirus-2010.html.

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