Antivirus Security Pro is a fresh rogue antispyware program from the WinWebSec family of malware. The difference between the first program an others very slightly. First, changed the name of the program and secondly, have been partially modified the core components of the program in order to protect them from detection by the legit antivirus and antispyware programs. Otherwise, everything remained as before.
Like other rogue antispyware programs, Antivirus Security Pro promoted and installed through the use of trojans. When the trojan is activated, it first does not manifest itself so that the user did not find the source of it on the computer. But after awhile, it starts to show a lot of fake security alerts and warnings that the computer is in danger and urgently needed to install and activate antivirus, this “antivirus” – Antivirus Security Pro. Even if you ignore all of these alerts, what is right, this trojan secretly start the download core components of this malicios program and then install it without your permission and knowledge.
During installation, Antivirus Security Pro will register itself in the Windows registry to run automatically every time you start Windows. When the program is started, it begins to scan the computer and detects a large number of trojans, viruses, worms, etc that will not be removed unless you first purchase the software. However, these results, as well as self scanning, is nothing but a scam. In reality Antivirus Security Pro cannot detect and remove any infections, as well as not be able to protect you from possible infections in the future. Thus, you can safely ignore all that the rogue antispyware will show you.
While Antivirus Security Pro is running, it will display nag screens, fake security alerts and warnings from Windows task bar. A few examples:
Warning! Infected file detected.
Warning! Network attack attempt detected.
Antivirus Security Pro will also block legitimate Windows applications claiming that they are infected:
Warning!
Suspicious activity detected in the application {application} to the behavior of the virus Win32/Conficker.X.
Thus, you will be unable to run some programs, including antivirus software. Of course, like false scan results above, all of these alerts and messages are just a fake. All of them are created in order to convince you that you must purchase the full version of Antivirus Security Pro and, thus, fix the entire system. So, you can safely ignore the fake warnings and alerts.
What is more, the trojan which installs Antivirus Security Pro, can also download and install a variant of TDSS trojan. This trojan is very dangerous because it can block the work of most antivirus and antispyware applications, so that they will not even start. But it’s not all, TDSS trojan can also redirect you from sites that you want to visit on a completely other.
As you can see, Antivirus Security Pro is a scam, which has been created with one purpose to scare your into purchasing so-called “full” version of the program. Most importantly, do not purchase it! This fake antispyware utility should be removed immediately after detection. To remove Antivirus Security Pro and other computer parasites that could get on the computer with it, use the instructions below.
Symptoms in a HijackThis Log
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [AA2014] %CommonAppData%\{RANDOM}\{RANDOM}.exe
Use the following instructions to remove Antivirus Security Pro (Uninstall instructions)
It is possible that the rogue will not allow you to run a malware removal tools, then you will need to 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.
Antivirus Security Pro virus changes Internet Explorer proxy settings to use a malicious proxy server that will not allow you download or update security software. So, you should complete this step to fix this problem.
Run Internet Explorer, Click Tools -> Internet Options as as shown in the screen below.
Internet Explorer – Tools menu
You will see window similar to the one below.
Internet Explorer – Internet options
Select Connections Tab and click to Lan Settings button. You will see an image similar as shown below.
Internet Explorer – Lan settings
Uncheck “Use a proxy server” box. Click OK to close Lan Settings and Click OK to close Internet Explorer settings.
Antivirus Security Pro may be bundled with TDSS trojan-rootkit, so you should run TDSSKiller to detect and remove this infection.
Download TDSSKiller from here and unzip to your desktop. Open TDSSKiller folder. Right click to tdsskiller and select rename. Type a new name (123myapp, for example). Press Enter. Double click the TDSSKiller icon. You will see a screen similar to the one below.
TDSSKiller
Click Start Scan button to start scanning Windows registry for TDSS trojan. If it is found, then you will see window similar to the one below.
TDSSKiller – Scan results
Click Continue button to remove TDSS trojan.
If you can`t to download or run TDSSKiller, then you need to use Combofix. Download Combofix. Close any open browsers. Double click on combofix.exe and follow the prompts. If ComboFix will not run, please rename it to myapp.exe and try again!
Now you should download Malwarebytes Anti-malware and remove all Antivirus Security Pro 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. Once installation is complete, you will see window similar to the one below.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Window
Now click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Antivirus Security Pro 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”. Make sure all entries have a checkmark at their far left and click “Remove Selected”.
Your system should now be free of the Antivirus Security Pro virus. If you need help with the instructions, then post your questions in our Spyware Removal forum.
Antivirus Security Pro 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: 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.
