How to remove Personal Antivirus (Uninstall instructions)

Personal Antivirus is rogue antivirus/antispyware program, new version of General Antivirus. The rogue antispyware uses trojans, fake online malware scanners and advertising on the Internet for distribution. This advertisement tells that your computer is infected and offers to download and install Personal Antivirus to clean your computer.

Personal Antivirus

When installed, Personal Antivirus configures itself to run automatically every time, when you start your computer. Once running, it will scan your computer and list a large amount of infections, but these “infections” are fake. Then, Personal Antivirus said that you should purchase the program in order to remove them. Running of it may drastically slow the performance of your computer.

While Personal Antivirus is running your computer will display fake security alerts from your Windows taskbar. These alerts are a fake and should be ignored! Personal Antivirus can be safely removed from your computer along with any other trojan infections if the proper steps are taken. If you are a non-techie computer user then this method of removing Personal Antivirus and any associated malware from your computer is for you.

Symptoms in a HijackThis Log

O2 – BHO: (no name) – {2e59498d-7e44-4452-9044-0973b080b9e8} – C:\WINDOWS\system32\winexplorer.dll
O2 – BHO: BHO – {abd45510-9b22-41cd-9acd-8182a2da7c63} – C:\WINDOWS\system32\iehelper.dll
O4 – HKLM\..\Run: [PAV] c:\program files\pav\pav.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [Personal Antivirus] “C:\Program Files\Personal Antivirus\PerAvir.exe” /s
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [Microsoft Windows logon process] C:\Documents and Settings\lab\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\winlogon.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Policies\Explorer\Run: [iv] “C:\Documents and Settings\lab\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\iv.exe”
O23 – Service: Guard Service (ITGrdEngine) – Unknown owner – %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\services.exe

Use the following instructions to remove Personal Antivirus

Download Avenger from here and unzip to your desktop.

Run Avenger, copy,then paste the following text in Input script Box:

Registry keys to delete:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{2e59498d-7e44-4452-9044-0973b080b9e8}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{abd45510-9b22-41cd-9acd-8182a2da7c63}

Registry values to delete:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | PAV

Files to delete:
%programfiles%\PAV
%windir%\system32\winexplorer.dll
%windir%\system32\iehelper.dll
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus

You will see window similar to the one below.

Avenger

Click on ‘Execute’. You will be asked Are you sure you want to execute the current script?. Click Yes.

You will now be asked First step completed — The Avenger has been successfully set up to run on next boot. Reboot now?. Click Yes.

Your PC will now be rebooted.

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. The scan may take some time to finish,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 that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected. When disinfection is completed, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.

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

Personal Antivirus creates the following files and folders

%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Personal Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\settings.ini
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\uill.ini
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\unins000.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\Uninstall Personal Antivirus.lnk
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\db
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\db\config.cfg
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\db\Timeout.inf
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Personal Antivirus\db\Urls.inf
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\log.txt
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\pguard.ini
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\services.exe
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\activate.ico
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\Explorer.ico
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\PerAvir.exe
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\unins000.dat
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\uninstall.ico
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\working.log
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\db
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\db\DBInfo.ver
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\db\ia080614.db
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\db\ia080618x.db
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\Languages
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\Languages\IAEs.lng
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\Languages\IAFr.lng
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\Languages\IAGer.lng
%programfiles%\Personal Antivirus\Languages\IAIt.lng
%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\winlogon.exe
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\iGSh.png
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\iMSh.png
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\iPSh.png
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\iv.exe
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\log.txt
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\pguard.ini
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\services.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Personal Antivirus.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Personal Antivirus
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Personal Antivirus\Personal Antivirus Home Page.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Personal Antivirus\Personal Antivirus.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Personal Antivirus\Purchase License.lnk