How to remove Windows Passport Utility (Uninstall instructions)

Windows Passport Utility is a fake antivirus program that hides Windows desktop, disables legitimate antvirus applications, blocks Windows programs from running and displays fake security alerts. It uses the name of Microsoft Windows and pretends to be a legitimate malware removal tool. As all rogueware applications from same family, it is distributed with the help of Microsoft Security Essentials Alert trojan. The trojan will display false information that states “Unknown Win32/Trojan was detected on your computer” and then suggest you to perform a scan of your PC. Once the scan is complete, it will report that a program is infected with Trojan.Horse.Win32.PAV.64.a and prompt you to install WindowsPassportUtility to cure your computer. Remember, this fake antivirus is unable to detect or rid your system of parasites nor will be protect you from legitimate future threats, so you should never trust in anything related to this application! You need to remove Windows Passport Utility from your computer as quickly as possible!

During installation, this malware will configure itself to start every time when your computer boots up. After the installation is done, it will reboot your computer. When Windows is loaded, you will be shown the Windows Passport Utility prompt instead of Windows desktop. But there is no any choice, only “OK” button is active. After click to it, the rogue will perform a fake scan of your computer and list a lot of infections to trick you into thinking your PC in danger. It 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 Windows Passport Utility is running, it will display display a variety of fake security warnings and block legitimate Windows applications on your computer. Some of the alerts are:

Attention
Software without digital certificate is detected. System
files security is at risk.
It is strongly recommended to enable the security mode.

Attention
Suspicious software activity is detected.
Please start system files scanning for details.

Critical vulnerability!
Application that seems to be a key-logger is detected.
System information security is at risk. It is recommended to enable the security mode and run
total System scanning.

Warning!
Name: taskmgr.exe
Name: C:\WINDOWS\taskmgr.exe
Application that seems to be a key-logger is detected. System information security is at risk. It is recommended to enable the security mode and run total System scanning.

Just like false scan results above, all of these alerts are a fake and supposed to scare you into thinking your computer is in danger. You should ignore all of them!

As you can see, WindowsPassportUtility is a scam. Most importantly, do not purchase it! Instead of doing so, follow the removal instructions below in order to remove Windows Passport Utility and any associated malware from your computer for free.

Automatic removal instructions for Windows Passport Utility

Step 1. Stop Windows Passport Utility from “autorunning”

Once Windows loaded you will see a Windows Passport Utility prompt similar to the one below.

Click OK button. Once fake scan is complete, it will state you need to open the License Manager.

Press the “OK, Open the license manager” button. Now you can close the program. Click “X” button at the top-right of WindowsPassportUtility or press ALT + F4. After that your Windows Desktop will be available.

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). Next open the Microsoft folder as shown in the screen below.

Locate randomly named file (e.g. wsewsu.exe or wsewsu, look the example above), right click to it and select Rename (don`t rename any folders). Type any new name (123.exe) and press Enter. Reboot your computer.

Step 2. Remove Windows Passport Utility 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 Windows Passport Utility associated malware. 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 Windows Passport Utility. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated WindowsPassportUtility 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.

Windows Passport Utility 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.

Windows Passport Utility creates the following files and folders

%AppData%\Microsoft\{RANDOM}.exe

Windows Passport Utility creates the following registry keys and values

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\avastsvc.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\avastui.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\msascui.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\msmpeng.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\msseces.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\egui.exe | Debugger
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\ekrn.exe | Debugger
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon | Shell = “%AppData%\Microsoft\{random}.exe”