Manual Removal Guide for AdwareSheriff

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "AdwareSheriff" manually.
Use this guide at your own risk; software should usually be better suited to remove malware, since it is able to look deeper.

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Threat Details:

Categories:

• pups

Description:

AdwareSheriff claims to be an antivirus solution and is spread by very aggressiv advertisment. If the program finds any problems on the system the user has to buy a licence of AdwareSheriff to fix these. Additionally it is very difficult to remove AdwareSheriff if it is installed on the computer.

Removal Instructions:

Installed Software List:

You can try to uninstall products with the names listed below; for items identified by other properties or to avoid malware getting active again on uninstallation, use Spybot-S&D or RunAlyzer to locate and get rid of these entries.

• Products that have a key or property named "AdwareSheriff_is1".

Files:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these files.

• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\AdwareSheriff\AdwareSheriff on the Web.lnk".
• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\AdwareSheriff\AdwareSheriff.lnk".
• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\AdwareSheriff\Uninstall AdwareSheriff.lnk".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\adesktop_dg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\explorer_dg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\fg_files.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\fg_folders.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\hijack.patterns".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\hijack.places".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\ie_dg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\ie_rg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\known.db".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\rgexplorer_rg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\rgmisc_rg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\runcu_sg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\runlm_sg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\spyware.db".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\system_dg.list".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\tracks.db".
• The file at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\Settings\settings.txt".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\asheriff.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\asheriff.url".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\bz.dll".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\pkill.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\interface\English.lng".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\interface\Italiano.lng".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\sounds\crit.wav".
• The file at "<$DESKTOP>\AdwareSheriff.lnk".
• The file at "<$STARTUP>\asheriff.lnk".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If AdwareSheriff uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify files!

Important: There are more files that cannot be safely described in simple words. Please use Spybot-S&D to remove them.

Folders:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these folders.

• The directory at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\AdwareSheriff".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\run_backup".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\DB\snapshots".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\Logs".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\Quarantine".
• The directory at "<$LOCALAPPDATA>\AdwareSheriff\Settings".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\interface".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\AdwareSheriff\sounds".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If AdwareSheriff uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify folders!

Final Words:

If neither Spybot-S&D nor self help did resolve the issue or you would prefer one on one help,

1. Please read these instructions before requesting assistance,
2. Then start your own thread in the Malware Removal Forum where a volunteer analyst will advise you as soon as available.