Antivirus Protection 2012

17 February 2012 Rogue 1 Comment

Antivirus Protection 2012 may sound like a caring application for your computer but in reality, it is a virus in disguise. It pretends to protect a PC against virus attack and remove any threats; however, the program cannot uphold this feature. Similar to any rogue program, Antivirus Protection 2012 do not have modules to reach level of security on any systems. In fact, you should not trust this program. An author behind this product focuses on bringing worthless program to conquer every computer and earn a profit from this illegal activity.

This counterfeit software can find a way to get inside the system is a number of methods. It requires user involvement in executing key components in order to drop and install Antivirus Protection 2012 without user’s knowledge. To be more specific, this worthless product will attack your system unguarded. It may come from compromised legal web sites, links sent by a trusted contact in instant messenger services, or attached to an email transmitted by a reliable sender.

No matter how Antivirus Protection 2012 gets inside the system, its existence will upset the victim. You will receive constant messages about virus infection, software errors and damage files. Even though, it is fake, the effect of this display is irritating. What’s more, it pushes user to purchase the full version by means of misleading virus scan results that runs even without user’s intervention.

Remove this rogue program from the PC. You may use the guidelines on this page to delete Antivirus Protection 2012 together with all the files and registry entries.

Screenshot Image:

Technical Details and Additional Information:

Damage Level: Medium

Systems Affected: Windows 9x, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7

Added Registry Entries:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Antivirus Protection 2012"
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Antivirus Protection 2012 Security" 
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Antivirus Protection 2012
HKCU\Software\Antivirus Protection 2012
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform "(Default)" = ''

Associated Files and Folders:

%UserProfile%\Desktop\Antivirus Protection 2012.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Antivirus Protection 2012.lnk
%StartMenu%\Programs\Security Monitor 2012\Activate Antivirus Protection 2012.lnk
%StartMenu%\Programs\Security Monitor 2012\Help Antivirus Protection 2012.lnk
%StartMenu%\Programs\Security Monitor 2012\How to Activate Antivirus Protection 2012.lnk
%StartMenu%\Programs\Security Monitor 2012\Antivirus Protection 2012.lnk 
%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Antivirus Protection 2012.lnk
%AppData%\Security Monitor 2012\IcoActivate.ico
%AppData%\Security Monitor 2012\IcoHelp.ico
%AppData%\Security Monitor 2012\IcoUninstall.ico
%AppData%\Security Monitor 2012\Antivirus Protection.exe
%AppData%\Security Monitor 2012\securityhelper.exe
%AppData%\Security Monitor 2012\securitymanager.exe
%Temp%\ef_7.exe (a bunch of random executable files)

Manual Removal Procedure

1. Kill any running process that belongs to Antivirus Protection 2012.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard.
- When Windows Task Manager appears, look for the following files and click End Task.
(random characters).exe, Antivirus Protection .exe

2. Delete all registry entries that belong to this malware.
- Press [Windows Key]+R on your keyboard.
- In the 'Open' dialog box, type regedit. This will open registry editor.
- Find and delete the following:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Antivirus Protection 2012"
- Close registry editor. Changes made will be save automatically.

3. Scan the computer with antivirus program.
- Connect to Internet and open your antivirus software. Please Update to obtain the latest database and necessary files.
- Restart the computer in Safe Mode.
- Just before Windows logo begins to load press F8 on your keyboard.
- On Windows Advanced Boot Options, select Safe Mode and press Enter.

4. Delete all files dropped by Antivirus Protection 2012.
- While still in Safe Mode, search and delete malicious files. Please refer to 'Associated Files and Folders.'

Automatic Removal of Antivirus Protection 2012

In order to completely remove the threat, it is best to download and run Anti-Malware tool. Sometimes, Trojans will block the downloading and installation of the tool. If this happens, download it from a clean computer and rename the executable file before executing on the infected machine.