Getting Rid of Anti-Virus 2009 and Similar Infections.

Anyone who has been doing computer repair in the last 6 months has without a doubt heard about antivirus 2009, and most likely seen in a few times. It has become one of the biggest annoyances yet and this is for trained computer technicians. After several infections on client computers I have come up with a pretty straight forward method of getting rid of it that both IT professionals as well as home users can follow.

This guide can help you remove: AV2009, AV2008, antivrus XP Pro, AV360, antivirus 360, and many similar variants.

Follow the steps below while logged in as the user having trouble. (logging in as another user makes this much more difficult)

1. The first thing to do may seem like the most obvious, but most people don't bother doing it. Uninstall the software. You can uninstall AV2009 by going to Start --> All Programs --> Antivirus 2009 --> Uninstall Antivirus 2009. This should immediately stop the pop ups from occurring.
2. Use windows Search and search you drive for av2009, delete all files with that name.
3. Download CCleaner and install it.
4. Under tools, go to startup and look through your start up items for av2009 entries and select the option to delete them. While here, verify all startup items as legitimate. Once done, use CCleaner to remove all temp files, cookies, and to clean up your registry (remember to backup your registry before making any changes)
5. Once you are done with CCleaner, download and install Malware Bytes Anti-Malware Tool. The free tool is all you will need for this removal, but you should consider purchasing the full version as it is very helpful.
6. Update MBAM with the latest  definition files and run the Quick Scan
7. Once the quick scan completes, delete all threats that it finds and reboot to deleting anything it could not delete after the scan.
8. Once the first scan/delete is finished, reboot your computer into safe mode.
9. Run a full system scan with MBAM in safe mode
10. Delete all threats found and reboot again
11. Run Microsoft Update to ensure your system is fully up to date

AV2009 should be completely gone at this point. If it is not, the most likely cause is that you missed an entry in the start up items.

 

 

NOTE: Before doing any virus clean up, you should backup all critical data to an external drive or DVD. Be sure to scan the files before copying them back to your computer in the future.

Bookmark this post: