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View Full Version : Manual Removal Guide for Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007



Friday
2008-11-28, 18:34
The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007" manually.
Use this guide at your own risk; software should usually be better suited to remove malware, since it is able to look deeper.

If this guide was helpful to you, please consider donating towards this site (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=donate).

Threat Details:

Categories:
malware

Description:
Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007 tries to trick the user with a similar name of our well known antispyware application "Spybot - Search and Destroy". When Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007 is installed on the computer it tries to make the user believe that the computer is infected with hundreds of malware issues. When the user wants to clean the system he has to purchase a license. Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007 is in close relation to SpySheriff and PestTrap, both well known rogue antispyware tools.
Removal Instructions:

Desktop:

Please remove the following files from your desktop.
To check where they are pointing to, right-click them and choose "Properties" from the context menu appearing.

Shortcuts named "TheSpyBot.lnk" and pointing to "C:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\TheSpyBot.exe".

Start Menu:

Please remove the following items from your start menu.
To check where they are pointing to, right-click them and choose "Properties" from the context menu appearing.

Items named "TheSpyBot.lnk" and pointing to "C:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\TheSpyBot.exe".
Items named "Uninstall.lnk" and pointing to "c:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\Uninstall.exe".

Autorun:

Please use Spybot-S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd), RunAlyzer (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=runalyzer) or msconfig.exe to remove the following autorun entries.

Entries named "TheSpyBot" and pointing to "C:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\TheSpyBot.exe".
Entries named "TheSpyBot" and pointing to "C:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\*.exe".

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 (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd) or RunAlyzer (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=runalyzer) to locate and get rid of these entries.

Products that have a key or property named "TheSpyBot".

Files:

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

The file at "c:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\TheSpyBot.exe".
The file at "c:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\TheSpyBot.lic".
The file at "c:\Program Files\TheSpyBot\Uninstall.exe".
Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007 uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer (http://forums.spybot.info/downloads.php?id=8) or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins (http://forums.spybot.info/downloads.php?id=3).
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 (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd) to remove them.

Folders:

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

The directory at "c:\Program Files\TheSpyBot".
The directory at "<$PROGRAMS>\TheSpyBot".
Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007 uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer (http://forums.spybot.info/downloads.php?id=8) or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins (http://forums.spybot.info/downloads.php?id=3).
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!

Registry:

You can use regedit.exe (included in Windows) to locate and delete these registry entries.

Delete the registry key "TheSpyBot" at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\".
If Fake.Antispyware.TheSpybot2007 uses rootkit technologies, use our RegAlyzer (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=regalyzer), RootAlyzer (http://forums.spybot.info/downloads.php?id=8) or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins (http://forums.spybot.info/downloads.php?id=3).

Final Words:

If neither Spybot-S&D nor self help did resolve the issue or you would prefer one on one help,
Please read these instructions (http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=288) before requesting assistance,
Then start your own thread in the Malware Removal Forum (http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22) where a volunteer analyst will advise you as soon as available.