How to remove CleanThis virus

CleanThis is a rogue antispyware program which uses the name of Microsoft Windows and pretends to be a legitimate malware removal tool. The rogue from the family of fake Microsoft Security Essentials Alert malware that hides Windows desktop, disables legitimate antvirus applications, blocks Windows programs from running and displays fake security alerts in order to trick you into thinking your computer is infected. It hopes that you will next purchase so-called full version of the software. Do not pay for the bogus software! You should never trust in anything related to this application and remove CleanThis from your computer as quickly as possible!

As most rogueware applications CleanThis is distributed with the help of trojans. When the trojan is started, it will block important Windows applications (e.g. Task Manager, Internet Explorer, etc) from running and display false information that states “Unknown Win32/Trojan was detected on your computer”. The fake alert will prompt to perform a scan of your PC. Once the scan is complete, it will suggest to install Clean This to remove the trojan. If you confirm it by clicking to OK button, this malware will download and install the rogue and then restart your PC.

When Windows is loaded, you will be shown the CleanThis prompt instead of Windows desktop. The fake antivirus will suggest to perform a system scan. It will simulate the scan of your computer and list a lot of infections to trick you into thinking your PC in danger. CleanThis will report that was able to clean the majority of infected files, but was not able to cure a few important Windows files and offer to purchase its full version to clean them. However, the scan results is a scam, because the program is neither able to detect, nor to remove anything from your computer, especially viruses or other kind of malware. Thus, do not pay for the bogus software, simply ignore all that the fake antivirus will display you.

While CleanThis is running, it will display display a variety of fake security warnings and block legitimate Windows applications on your computer. The following alert will be shown when you attempt to start Windows Task Manager:

The application taskmgr.exe was launched successfully but it was forced to shut down due to security reasons.
This happened because the application was infected by a malicious program which might pose a threat for the OS.
It is highly recommended to install the necessary heuristic module and perform a full scan of your computer to exterminate malicious programs from it.

If you get infected with CleanThis, please do not be fooled into buying it. Instead of doing so, follow the removal guide below in order to remove CleanThis and any associated malware from your computer for free.

Automatic removal instructions for CleanThis virus

Step 1. Reboot your computer in Safe mode with command prompt

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 command prompt and then press ENTER.

Step 2. Stop CleanThis from “autorunning”

Once Windows loaded, command prompt (black window) opens. In the command prompt type explorer.exe and Press Enter. Your desktop will now appear.

Click Start, Type in search field (if you use Windows XP, then Click Start, Run and type in Open field):

%APPDATA%

Press Enter. It will open the contents of Application Data folder (for Windows XP) or the contents of Roaming folder (for Windows Vista, Windows 7).

Locate a file named gog.exe or gog, right click to it and select Rename. Type any new name (123.exe) and press Enter. Reboot your computer.

Step 3. Remove CleanThis associated malware

Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM). Once downloaded, close all programs and windows on your computer.

Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MalwareBytes Anti-malware onto your computer. 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.

MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.

As MalwareBytes Anti-malware will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main menu. You will see window similar to the one below.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Window

Make sure the “Perform quick scan” option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for CleanThis infection. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.

When the scan is finished a message box will appear that it has completed scanning successfully. Click OK. Now click “Show 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 CleanThis. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated CleanThis 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.

CleanThis 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.

CleanThis creates the following files and folders

%UserProfile%\Application Data\completescan
%UserProfile%\Application Data\gog.exe
%UserProfile%\Application Data\install

CleanThis creates the following registry keys and values

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon | Shell = “%AppData%\gog.exe”