How to remove Win Scanner virus

Win Scanner is a fake computer optimization and hard disk drive defragmenter software that blocks legitimate Windows applications, detects fake hard drive problems and displays various fake error messages. The malicious program from the same family of malware as Disk Repair, Hard Drive Diagnostic, etc. Win Scanner will state that there is something wrong with your computer in order to scare you into thinking your computer in danger and has a lot of serious problems. Next, the rogue will say that all you have to do in order to fix these problems and errors is purchase the full version of the software. Do not purchase the bogus program because it is nothing more but a scam which is unable to detect and fix any problems! Remember that the rogue is a highly dangerous application and you need remove Win Scanner as soon as possible!

WinScanner is promoted and installed itself on your computer without your permission and knowledge through the use of trojans or other malicious software as you do not even notice that. Moreover, the authors of of the fake program may also distribute this malware on social networks (Twitter, My Space, Facebook, etc) and spam emails . Please be careful when opening attachments and downloading files or otherwise you can end up with a rogue program on your PC.

Once installed, Win Scanner will be configured to run automatically when Windows starts. Next, the rogue does a fake scan of your computer then tells you it has found numerous critical errors, e.g. “Read time of hard drive clusters less than 500 ms”, “32% of HDD space is unreadable”, “Bad sectors on hard drive or damaged file allocation table”, etc. It will require you to pay for the fake software before it “repairs” your machine of the problems. Of course, all of these errors are a fake. So, you can safety ignore the false scan results.

When Win Scanner is running, it will display various fake warnings and notifications from your Windows taskbar. The text of some of the alerts are:

Critical Error
RAM memory usage is critically high. RAM memory failure.

System Restore
The system has been restored after a critical error. Data integrity and hard drive integrity verification required.

Windows – No Disk
Exception Processing Message 0×0000013

Critical Error
A critical error has occurred while indexing data stored on hard drive. System restart required.

Last but not least, Win Scanner will block all Windows legitimate applications from running. Important to note, if you attempt to run a program enough times it will eventually work. The following warning will be shown when you attempt to run a program:

Windows detected a hard drive problem.
A hard drive error occurred while starting the application

Of course, like false scan results above, all of these warnings are a fake. This is an attempt to make you think your computer in danger! You can safely ignore all of them.

As you can see, WinScanner is a scam which created with one purpose to to trick you into purchasing the full version of the program. If your computer is infected with this malware, then most importantly, do not purchase it! Uninstall the rogue from your PC as soon as possible. Use the removal instructions below to remove Win Scanner and any associated malware from your computer for free.

Automated Removal Instructions for Win Scanner

Step 1. Reboot your computer in Safe mode with networking

Restart your computer.

After hearing your computer beep once during startup, start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. On a computer that is configured for booting to multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot Menu appears.

Instead of Windows loading as normal, Windows Advanced Options menu appears similar to the one below.

Windows Advanced Options menu

When the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, select Safe mode with networking and then press ENTER.

Step 2. Stop Win Scanner from running

Download HijackThis from here. Run HijackThis and click Scan button to perform a system scan. Place a checkmark against each of lines:

O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [{RANDOM}.exe] {PATH}\Temp\{RANDOM}.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [{RANDOM}] {PATH}\Temp\{RANDOM}.exe

Example:

O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [AcDAlppKDp.exe] C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\AcDAlppKDp.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [358794] C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\358794.exe

Note: list of infected items may be different. Template of the malicious entries:
Variant 1: [{random string}] {PATH}\Temp\{random string}.exe;
Variant 2: [{set of random numbers}] {PATH}\Temp\{set of random numbers}.exe;
If you unsure, then check it in Google. Skip this step, if you does not find any malicious lines.

Place a checkmark against each of them. Once you have selected all entries, close all running programs then click once on the “fix checked” button. Close HijackThis.

Step 3. Clean temp folder

WinScanner stores its files in Windows temp foder. You need to clean it.

Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune from here, saving it to your desktop. It is used to cleanout temporary files & temp areas used by internet browsers.

Start ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program. Under Main choose: Select All and click the Empty Selected button.

Step 4. Remove Win Scanner and associated malware

Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM). Close all programs and Windows on your computer.

Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, then click Finish.

If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.

Once the program has loaded you will see window similar to the one below.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Window

Select Perform Quick Scan, then click Scan, it will start scanning your computer for Win Scanner infection. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.

When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results. You will see a list of infected items similar as shown below. Note: list of infected items may be different than what is shown in the image below.

Malwarebytes Anti-malware, list of infected items

Make sure all entries have a checkmark at their far left and click “Remove Selected” button to remove Win Scanner. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated Win Scanner files and registry keys and add them to the programs’ quarantine. When MalwareBytes Anti-malware has finished removing the infection, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.

Win Scanner removal notes

Note 1: if you can not download, install, run or update Malwarebytes Anti-malware, then follow the steps: Malwarebytes won`t install, run or update – How to fix it.

Note 2: if you need help with the instructions, then post your questions in our Spyware Removal forum.

Note 3: your current antispyware and antivirus software let the infection through ? Then you may want to consider purchasing the FULL version of MalwareBytes Anti-malware to protect your computer in the future.

Win Scanner creates the following files and folders

%UserProfile%\Desktop\Win Scanner.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win Scanner\Win Scanner.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win Scanner\Uninstall Win Scanner.lnk
%Temp%\{RANDOM}.exe
%Temp%\{RANDOM}
%Temp%\{RANDOM}.dat

Win Scanner creates the following registry keys and values

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | {RANDOM}po