Antivirus 2008 or Antivirus 2009 Trojan Family Removal Difficulties

Many people who have attempted to remove the Antivirus 2009 family of rogue anti-spyware programs have been successful but some have had difficulties. The Antivirus 2009 trojan family may be difficult to remove because of the nature of the Trojan infections such as Zlob, Vundo or other Trojan Downloaders.

The Trojans have acquired rootkit-like capabilities which allows them to hide various files within the system and be able to avoid detection from spyware removal programs. The worst case scenario is when the infection reaches the Winlogon, where it can disable key functions from a user’s computer, leaving the user unable to even log in as an administrator. As for protection, Antivirus 2009 infection takes care of disabling security programs and blocking security websites so the user’s only avenue is to purchase whatever rogue anti-spyware program is continuously popping up on the computer. Even if you terminate the running processes of the Antivirus 2009 infections, it may start up again the next time you reboot your computer. It requires a deep and careful removal procedure to completely remove Antivirus 2009 infections. This is definitely a problem that our Threat Research Team is highly aware of and its main priority is to have a seamless solution for Antivirus 2009 infections in the Winlogon and other parts of the system.

Signs of Antivirus 2009 Trojan Family Infection

• Each of the Antivirus 2009 variations will display popups or alerts stating that it has detected a violation or security issue within your computer. Of course this type of notification is fake and should not be clicked on or it may prompt you to purchase one of the Antivirus 2009 variations. XP Antivirus, XP Antivirus 2008 or XP Antivirus 2009 alert messages appear, for example:
  1. System files modification alert!
     Some critical system files of your computer were modified by malicious program. It may cause system instability and data loss. Click here to block unathorised modification by removing threats (Recommended).
  2. Privacy Violation alert!
     XP antivirus detected Privacy Violation. Some program is secretly sending your private data to untrusted internet host. Click here to block this activity by removing threats (Recommended).
• You notice that your desktop has unknown or new desktop icons or desktop shortcut icons.
• C: Drive icon in the “My Computer” disappears.
• The Windows Start Menu no longer displays the normal items of “My Documents”, “My Computer”, “Search”, “Help” and other items that are normally found in the start menu.
• Desktop background switches to a red background that has an image set out to look like a toxic logo in the middle with the text “Privacy is in Danger! Download Privacy Protection Software Now” beneath it.
• Your screensaver settings are changed to display black bugs crawling on your screen or to an image of the infamous “Blue Screen of Death”.
• “VIRUS ALERT!” text on the system tray.
• Administrative privileges are removed or limited from the default administrator account.
• The performance of your computer is very slow or crashes during common operations.

The following links provide information for Antivirus 2009, Antivirus 2008, XP Antivirus, XP Antivirus 2008 and XP Antivirus 2009.

• Antivirus 2008 or Antivirus2008 Removal Instructions
• Antivirus 2009 or Antivirus2009 Removal Instructions
• XP Antivirus or XPAntivirus Removal Instructions
• XP Antivirus 2008 or XPAntivirus 2008 Removal Instructions
• XP Antivirus 2009 or XPAntivirus 2009 Removal Instructions

Has this article assisted you in better understanding the Antivirus 2009 family of rogue anti-spyware programs? Are you able to better identify and remove Antivirus 2009, XP Antivirus, XP Antivirus 2008 or XP Antivirus 2009?

Antivirus2008 may also be known on the internet as the following: Antivirus 2008, Antivirus2008, FraudTool.Win32.AntiVirus2008.j (Kaspersky), Rogue.Antivirus2008, Antivirus2008, Downloader.MisleadApp (Symantec), Win32/SillyDl.EMX (CA AV).

I have Antivirus 2008, what do I do?

You have many options for detecting and removing Antivirus 2008. The most extreme is reformatting your PC, possibly costing you all of your data and definitely costing hour of time wasted on reloading your PC to its original form. Reformatting your computer should be your last resort. If you’re having problems finding Antivirus 2008, try using a preferred spyware scanner to quickly detect Antivirus 2008 first. If you don’t have a spyware scanner, you can always try the instructional methods provided below.

Antivirus 2008 Automatic Detection (Recommended)

Download SpyHunter’s Antivirus 2008 Scanner.

• Start a full system scan to detect Antivirus 2008 & other parasites.
• SpyHunter will automatically search for Antivirus 2008 files.

Please note that SpyHunter’s free scanner is only for detection purposes. If SpyHunter’s scanner finds Antivirus 2008 on your PC, you can buy SpyHunter’s full version to remove Antivirus 2008 and other spyware.

Are you infected with Antivirus 2008?

Your machine may be infected with Antivirus 2008, if you have the following symptoms:
*Note: Symptoms tend to vary depending on software installed on your system and other system factors.

Symptom #1: A questionable red or green icon appears in your system tray next to the system clock, representing a newly installed program which you do not recall ever downloading. If you click on the icon a fake system alert popup will direct you to Antivirus 2008’s website. In some cases, even when you don’t click on the icon the fake system alert may still pop up.

Symptom #2: The questionable icon pops up a fake system alert that lures you into downloading Antivirus 2008 program by stating that your computer is infected with dangerous spyware and that you should download Antivirus 2008 program to remove the alleged infection. The false system alert may read:

“SPYWARE INFECTION! Your system is infected with spyware. Windows recommends that you use a spyware removal tool to prevent loss of data. Using this PC before having it cleaned of spyware threats is highly discouraged.”

Antivirus 2008 Manual Detection

If you’ve discovered that Antivirus 2008 has infected your PC, you must act quickly and take the proper steps to eliminating the infection. Note: The manual removal of any parasite is difficult. To avoid the unnecessary risk of damaging your computer, we advise you to download SpyHunter’s spyware scanner tool to automatically detect Antivirus 2008.

To manually remove Antivirus 2008, follow these removal steps:

Step #1: Remove Antivirus 2008 with Windows Add/Remove Programs utility.

Sometimes all it takes to get rid of spyware like Antivirus 2008 is to remove the program using the Add/Remove Programs control panel in Windows.

1. In Windows XP Professional, click on Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs
2. In Windows 2000 Professional / Windows ME / Windows 98, click on Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.
3. In the list of programs, search for the software you want to remove. If you see a program you don’t recognize or don’t recall installing, look it up in Google to learn what it is.
4. Select the questionable program and remove it with the Remove button.

Step #2: Kill Antivirus 2008 using the Windows Task Manager

To kill a Antivirus 2008 process that has infected your computer, you will need to use the Windows Task Manager to check by process, highlight the process in question, and then end the task. To do this:

1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL or CTRL+SHIFT+ESC on the keyboard.
2. Click on Processes Tab to see all active tasks. For easier detection, left click the process under the heading Image Name.
3. Find and kill the following Antivirus 2008 process:
   lwpwer.exe
   xpa_2008.exe
   Antivirus-2008.exe
   av2008xp.exe
   Win Antivirus 2008.exe
   AntvrsInstall[1].exe
   AntvrsInstall.exe
   Antvrs.exe

4. Once you’ve identified the Antivirus 2008 process, press DEL on your keyboard or click End Process to kill it from your system.

Step #3: Use PsKill to Kill a Process

Sometimes a parasite can disable your Windows Task Manager so you can use pslist and pskill (a third party application by Mark Russinovich) to list and kill the unwanted processes.

1. Download PsKill or PsList.
2. Extract the program from the .Zip archive.
3. Move pskill.exe to your C: drive.
4. Open a command window and click Start > Run.
5. Type cmd and click the OK button.
6. In the command window, type C:pskill.exe and the name of the process you wish to kill, then press Enter. For example, if you wanted to kill the process for Antivirus 2008, you would type: C:pskill.exe Antivirus 2008.exe.
   If the file was successfully removed, PsKill will say “process Antivirus 2008.exe killed”.
7. Find and Remove these Antivirus 2008 files:
   lwpwer.exe
   xpa_2008.exe
   Antivirus-2008.exe
   s9201
   av2008xp.exe
   Win Antivirus 2008.exe
   Uninstall Antivirus 2008.lnk
   Antivirus Pro 2008
   Uninstall Antivirus.lnk
   AntvrsInstall[1].exe
   AntvrsInstall.exe
   AntiVirus 2008.lic
   Antvrs.exe
   ArrayAntiVirus 2008.lnk

   Array