What this programs does:
Anti-virus-1 is a new rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Antivirus 2010 and Antivirus 360. This program is promoted primarily through two methods. The first is through the use of advertisements that pretend to be online anti-malware scanners. These advertisements go through what appears to be a scan of your machine and then when finished, state that your computer is infected and that you should download Anti-virus-1 to protect yourself. Remember, though, that this is just an advertisement and it has no way of knowing what is running on your computer. The second method that is used to promote this rogue is through the use of Trojans. When certain Trojans are installed on your computer they will display security alerts stating that your computer is infected or that you have some other security risk. When you click on these alerts, it will download and install Anti-virus-1 onto your computer.
Anti-virus-1 screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 16 images you can view.
When Anti-virus-1 is installed it will configure itself to start automatically when Windows starts. It will also modify your C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file so that when you visit certain sites you will be go to a site under the malware developer's control rather than the legitimate site you were expecting to go to. This allows them to show you information that further promotes the Anti-virus-1 program. When the program is started it will automatically scan your computer and then display a list of infections that cannot be removed unless you first purchase the program. The infections that it will show include Spyware.IEMonster.d, Zlob.PornAdvertiser.ba, Spyware.IMMonitor, Infostealer.Banker.E, and Dialer.Xpehbam.biz_dialer among many others. All of these infections do not actually exist on your computer, but are only being shown to scam you into thinking that you have infections on your computer.
While the program is running you will also see security alerts in the form of a balloon appearing from the Windows taskbar. These alerts will have messages like:
Spyware activity alert!
Spyware.IEMonster activity detected. It is spyware that attempts to steal passwords from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Outlook and other programs, including logins and passwords from online banking sessions, eBay, PayPal.
and
svchost.exe
Internal conflict alert.
Anti-virus-1 detected internal software conflict. Some applicztion tries to get access to system kernel (such behavior is typical to Spyware/Malware). It may cause crash of your computer.
You may also encounter what appears to be a crash screen, or Blue Screen of Death, that states SPYWARE.MONSTER.FX_WILD has been detected. Your computer will then pretend to reboot and in the fake Windows boot screen you will see the following message under the Windows logo:
Your Anti-virus-1 copy is unregistered. Microsoft Security recommends you to activate your antivirus protection software.
When you see these fake taskbar alerts, blue screen crashes, and reboots, please do not be alarmed as they are all fake. In fact the blue screen crash, and the subsequent reboot, are just a screen saver run by the c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\svchost.exe file. In reality your computer never crashed or rebooted.
Though Anti-virus-1 may look like a legitimate anti-malware program it is important to remember that these programs are scripted to always show that you have infections. This program, when run will always show you the same infections, the same alerts, and the same warnings. It does this for one reason and only one reason. To scare you into thinking you are infected and thus you purchase their software. Instead of doing so, please use the free removal guide outlined below to remove Anti-virus-1 and the malware that was installed with it.
Threat Classification:
Information on Rogue Programs
Advanced information:
View Anti-virus-1 files.
View Anti-virus-1 Registry Information.
Tools Needed for this fix:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.review.2009softwarereviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 review.2009softwarereviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 a1.review.zdnet.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.d1.reviews.cnet.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.toptenreviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.toptenreviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.download.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.download.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.pcadvisor.c.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.pcadvisor.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.pcmag.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.pcmag.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.pcpro.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.pcpro.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.reevoo.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.reevoo.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.riverstreams.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.riverstreams.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.techradar.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.techradar.com
O2 - BHO: QWProtectBHO - {70FEAD04-A7FD-4B89-B814-8A8251C90EF7} - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\QWProtect.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Monitor calibration] C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1i.exe
Guide Updates:
02/18/08 - Initial guide creation.
Automated Removal Instructions for Anti-virus-1 using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link
Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
Double-click on the icon on your desktop named Download_mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM 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 you leave both the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.
MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM 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 program as shown below.
On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Anti-virus-1 related files.
MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.
You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the Anti-virus-1 removal process.
You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
You can now exit the MBAM program.
Your computer should now be free of the Anti-virus-1 program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.
If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:
Preparation Guide For Use Before Posting A Hijackthis Log
Associated Anti-virus-1 Files:
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Anti-virus-1
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1.cab
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\av1.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1i.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1i2.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\QWProtect.dll
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\svchost.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Anti-virus-1.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Anti-virus-1\Anti-virus-1.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Anti-virus-1\Uninstall.lnk
Associated Anti-virus-1 Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AV1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AV1\AV1\{F275E931-AFEC-4f70-B0D4-CC2731B945E0}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{29256442-2C14-48CA-B756-3EE0F8BDC774}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\QWProtect.DLL
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{70FEAD04-A7FD-4B89-B814-8A8251C90EF7}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{051C9A06-FB08-486F-B09B-8B33B261637D}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\QWProtect.QWProtectBHO
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{512E801E-2F02-4ADE-ACAA-58F08A22B2F8}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{70FEAD04-A7FD-4B89-B814-8A8251C90EF7}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Monitor calibration"
This is a self-help guide. Use at your own risk.
BleepingComputer.com can not be held responsible for problems that may occur by using this information. If you would like help with any of these fixes, you can post a HijackThis log in our HijackThis Logs and Analysis forum.
If you have any questions about this self-help guide then please post those questions in our AntiVirus, Firewall and Privacy Products and Protection Methods forum and someone will help you.
Continue reading →
Anti-virus-1 is a new rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Antivirus 2010 and Antivirus 360. This program is promoted primarily through two methods. The first is through the use of advertisements that pretend to be online anti-malware scanners. These advertisements go through what appears to be a scan of your machine and then when finished, state that your computer is infected and that you should download Anti-virus-1 to protect yourself. Remember, though, that this is just an advertisement and it has no way of knowing what is running on your computer. The second method that is used to promote this rogue is through the use of Trojans. When certain Trojans are installed on your computer they will display security alerts stating that your computer is infected or that you have some other security risk. When you click on these alerts, it will download and install Anti-virus-1 onto your computer.
Anti-virus-1 screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 16 images you can view.
When Anti-virus-1 is installed it will configure itself to start automatically when Windows starts. It will also modify your C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file so that when you visit certain sites you will be go to a site under the malware developer's control rather than the legitimate site you were expecting to go to. This allows them to show you information that further promotes the Anti-virus-1 program. When the program is started it will automatically scan your computer and then display a list of infections that cannot be removed unless you first purchase the program. The infections that it will show include Spyware.IEMonster.d, Zlob.PornAdvertiser.ba, Spyware.IMMonitor, Infostealer.Banker.E, and Dialer.Xpehbam.biz_dialer among many others. All of these infections do not actually exist on your computer, but are only being shown to scam you into thinking that you have infections on your computer.
While the program is running you will also see security alerts in the form of a balloon appearing from the Windows taskbar. These alerts will have messages like:
Spyware activity alert!
Spyware.IEMonster activity detected. It is spyware that attempts to steal passwords from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Outlook and other programs, including logins and passwords from online banking sessions, eBay, PayPal.
and
svchost.exe
Internal conflict alert.
Anti-virus-1 detected internal software conflict. Some applicztion
You may also encounter what appears to be a crash screen, or Blue Screen of Death, that states SPYWARE.MONSTER.FX_WILD has been detected. Your computer will then pretend to reboot and in the fake Windows boot screen you will see the following message under the Windows logo:
Your Anti-virus-1 copy is unregistered. Microsoft Security recommends you to activate your antivirus protection software.
When you see these fake taskbar alerts, blue screen crashes, and reboots, please do not be alarmed as they are all fake. In fact the blue screen crash, and the subsequent reboot, are just a screen saver run by the c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\svchost.exe file. In reality your computer never crashed or rebooted.
Though Anti-virus-1 may look like a legitimate anti-malware program it is important to remember that these programs are scripted to always show that you have infections. This program, when run will always show you the same infections, the same alerts, and the same warnings. It does this for one reason and only one reason. To scare you into thinking you are infected and thus you purchase their software. Instead of doing so, please use the free removal guide outlined below to remove Anti-virus-1 and the malware that was installed with it.
Threat Classification:
Information on Rogue Programs
Advanced information:
View Anti-virus-1 files.
View Anti-virus-1 Registry Information.
Tools Needed for this fix:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.review.2009softwarereviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 review.2009softwarereviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 a1.review.zdnet.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.d1.reviews.cnet.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.toptenreviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.toptenreviews.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.download.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.download.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.pcadvisor.c.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.pcadvisor.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.pcmag.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.pcmag.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.pcpro.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.pcpro.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.reevoo.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.reevoo.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.riverstreams.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.riverstreams.co.uk
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 www.reviews.techradar.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.20.175.74 reviews.techradar.com
O2 - BHO: QWProtectBHO - {70FEAD04-A7FD-4B89-B814-8A8251C90EF7} - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\QWProtect.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Monitor calibration] C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1i.exe
Guide Updates:
02/18/08 - Initial guide creation.
Automated Removal Instructions for Anti-virus-1 using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link
Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
Double-click on the icon on your desktop named Download_mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM 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 you leave both the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.
MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM 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 program as shown below.
On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Anti-virus-1 related files.
MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.
You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the Anti-virus-1 removal process.
You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
You can now exit the MBAM program.
Your computer should now be free of the Anti-virus-1 program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.
If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:
Preparation Guide For Use Before Posting A Hijackthis Log
Associated Anti-virus-1 Files:
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Anti-virus-1
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1.cab
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\av1.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1i.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\AV1i2.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\QWProtect.dll
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AV1\svchost.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Anti-virus-1.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Anti-virus-1\Anti-virus-1.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Anti-virus-1\Uninstall.lnk
Associated Anti-virus-1 Windows Registry Information:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AV1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AV1\AV1\{F275E931-AFEC-4f70-B0D4-CC2731B945E0}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{29256442-2C14-48CA-B756-3EE0F8BDC774}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\QWProtect.DLL
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{70FEAD04-A7FD-4B89-B814-8A8251C90EF7}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{051C9A06-FB08-486F-B09B-8B33B261637D}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\QWProtect.QWProtectBHO
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{512E801E-2F02-4ADE-ACAA-58F08A22B2F8}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{70FEAD04-A7FD-4B89-B814-8A8251C90EF7}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Monitor calibration"
This is a self-help guide. Use at your own risk.
BleepingComputer.com can not be held responsible for problems that may occur by using this information. If you would like help with any of these fixes, you can post a HijackThis log in our HijackThis Logs and Analysis forum.
If you have any questions about this self-help guide then please post those questions in our AntiVirus, Firewall and Privacy Products and Protection Methods forum and someone will help you.
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