Antivirus Soft is yet another one of those pesky rogues (fake antivirus, virus, ransomware, call it what you want) that have been infecting computers around the world. In this article we will teach you how to remove the Antivirus Soft virus from your computer, how the rogue got on your computer and how it tries to trick you.
What Is The Antivirus Soft Virus ?
The Antivirus Soft is a rogue (but you can call it virus, the textbook definition is not that important here) that installs itself on your computer via Trojans. The Trojan that installs this rogue gets on your computer when you download an infected codec, a fake flash update, or even via infected PDF files (especially if you are using older Adobe Acrobat Reader versions). Once the Trojan gets on your computer, it automatically installs Antivirus Soft on your computer.
What Antivirus Soft Does ?
Just like any other rogue anti-spyware, Antivirus Soft will claim to be a legitimate Antivirus. It will perform a fake scan of your computer. The problem is that when you try to remove these fake infections, Antivirus Soft will ask you to buy the full version before you are allowed to do that. It is obvious that Antivirus Soft is a scam, and you should not purchase it. If you already did, you should contact your credit card company as soon as possible to dispute the charges.
Antivirus Soft will also display a number of security messages on your computer, as well as it will display a fake Windows Security Center screen (also aimed to mislead you).
How To Remove Antivirus Soft Virus (Removal Guide)
Another thing this rogue alters in your computer are the Internet Explorer proxy settings (this is why you’ll be better off with the Opera 10 browser, Google Chrome 4, etc). This way, you won’t be able to visit any other page than the rogue’s website and you cannot read Antivirus Soft removal guides such as this one or download software that can help you remove the virus. Hope is not lost.
How To Remove Antivirus Soft Virus ?
First of all, please note that this is a general guide for removing Antivirus Soft. Because rogues can manifest in different ways on different computers (morphing), it may not work for some of you, although there is a big chance it will work (especially if you follow the instructions closely). In the unfortunate case it does not work for you, please leave us a comment detailing exactly what you did and I’ll try (or maybe our ever growing user base – thanks guys) to provide a fix.
Things you need to know before we begin:
a. It is better that you print these steps as you will be required to close all open windows in the process.
b. It is possible that Antivirus Soft won’t allow you to download any files on your computer. If this is the case, you should download the programs on a stick from another computer and port them on the infected one.
c. Remember to save the files under common names. Do not save them under the default name. Make sure you save them as “common_word.exe”.
Now for the main course of this article :
1. Reboot your computer and enter Safe Mode with Networking (if you don’t know how, read more here).
2. Now it’s time to undo the proxy settings. Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools->Internet Options->Connections and press the LAN Settings button (it’s in the bottom-right half of the window). Now uncheck the “Use a proxy server for your LAN” box.
3. Before you actually remove the Antivirus Soft virus, you need to stop its process so it does not interfere. To do this download the rkill.com file here (again, make sure you save it under a common name). Run the file like crazy (double click it until your finger gets numb) until Antivirus Soft is closed.
4. Not you need to download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. The download link is offered here. Save it on the desktop, but under a common name.
5. Now close all open applications. (ALL of them).
6. Double click the setup file you saved earlier (if you closed all applications, you should be at the desktop). Proceed through the installation with the default settings, especially if you are not an experienced user. Make sure you check the boxes for MBAM update and automatic run once setup is complete.
7. Once MBAM is loaded, go to the scanner tab, select “Perform Quick Scan” and press the scan button and wait for the scan to be complete. If no results were found, go back and select the full scan.
8. Once the scan is complete go to the scanner screen and press the “Show Results” button. Now select all the detected infections and click Remove Selected.
Once the removal process is complete (a reboot might be required), you should have successfully removed Antivirus Soft virus from your computer, as well as all related files (and any other malware MBAM detected on your computer).
To prevent other viruses (rogues, trojans and all sorts of nasty buggers) from infecting your computer, you should always have an updated Antivirus installed on your computer. Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, and Panda Antivirus are solid commercial solutions, but there are free Antivirus solutions out there do their job well, such as Avast Free 5 and Microsoft Security Essentials.
