Windows Vista Blog

Antivirus soft is a newer version of the well-known rogue antivirus software, Antivirus Live. Just like its predecessor, it tries to trick users into buying a license to the software. Antivirus Soft gets installed on a user’s system via Trojans that enter the computer through security loopholes or by getting downloaded from various blacklisted porn sites. Once installed, Antivirus Soft floods the user with false threat reports that are actually reporting about harmless files that were created by Antivirus Soft itself earlier. This rogue software asks the user to pay for the ‘full’ version of Antivirus Soft, claiming that the currently installed ‘trial’ version of the software is insufficient to clean the system. However, users should remember that Antivirus Soft is a rogue program and it cannot clean any system in any way. No user should fall for the tricks played by Antivirus Soft and pay for a license.

As soon as you find a copy of Antivirus Soft on your computer, you should take steps to remove it. Antivirus Soft removal involves the stopping of processes, deletion of files and folders and removal of registry entries.

File Removal Procedures

The first step in Antivirus Soft removal is to stop the following processes:

• [random characters]sysguard.exe
• [random characters]sftav.exe

The next step is to delete the following files and folders:

Windows XP:

• %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random characters]\
• %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random characters]\[random characters]sysguard.exe
• %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[random characters]\[random characters]sftav.exe

Windows 7:

• %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\[random characters]\
• %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\[random characters]\[random characters]sysguard.exe
• %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\[random characters]\[random characters]sftav.exe

Once these steps have been completed, Antivirus Soft no longer resides on your hard disk.

Registry Removal Procedures

To ensure complete Antivirus Soft removal, you must now remove the following entries from the Windows registry:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[random charaters]“
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[random characters]“
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = “1″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyServer” = “http=127.0.0.1:5555″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations “LowRiskFileTypes” = “.exe”
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download “RunInvalidSignatures” = “1″
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyOverride” = “”
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AvScan

After all these steps have been completed, Antivirus Soft removal can be considered complete. However, in order to make sure that no additional malware are left behind it is recommended to conduct a full system scan using genuine antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus.

Conclusion

Manual Antivirus Soft removal is not recommended for inexperienced users, as any wrong move on your part could cause damage to your system. The best route to take for Antivirus Soft removal is to use a web-based virus scanning/cleaning service such as www.onlinecomputerrepair.org.