Manual Removal Guide for W3i.IQ5.fraud

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "W3i.IQ5.fraud" 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:

• adware
• downloader

Description:

W3i.IQ5.fraud is supposed to be the legit 7zip or other freeware installer. Instead it is a netinstaller which tries to fool the user via unusual graphical user interface to install adware. W3i is also trying to make it look like 7zip and other free software is their own product which is practically theft.

Removal Instructions:

Autorun:

Please use Spybot-S&D, RunAlyzer or msconfig.exe to remove the following autorun entries.

• Entries named "InstallIQUpdater" and pointing to "?<$PROGRAMFILES>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\InstallIQUpdater.exe? /silent /autorun".

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 "{8E1CB0F1-67BF-4052-AA23-FA22E94804C1}".

Files:

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

• The file at "<$COMMONAPPDATA>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\data.xml".
• The file at "<$COMMONAPPDATA>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\iqu.ini".
• The file at "<$COMMONAPPDATA>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\IQUMessageDlg.xsl".
• The file at "<$COMMONAPPDATA>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\updater.log".
• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\InstallIQ Updater\InstallIQ Updater.lnk".
• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\InstallIQ Updater\Privacy Policy.url".
• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\InstallIQ Updater\Terms & Conditions.url".
• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\InstallIQ Updater\Uninstall InstallIQ Updater.lnk".
• The file at "<$DESKTOP>\Free Dolphin Screensaver.lnk".
• The file at "<$DESKTOP>\Free Whales ScreenSaver.lnk".
• The file at "<$DESKTOP>\VIRUSfighter FREE Trial.lnk".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com\16700.url".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com\16714.url".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com\17418.url".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com\control.txt".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com\dolphinico.ico".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com\vfpro.ico".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com\whalesico.ico".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\InstallIQUpdater.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\iqu.xsl".
• The file at "<$SYSDIR>\killexplorer.bat".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If W3i.IQ5.fraud 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 "<$COMMONAPPDATA>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater\import".
• The directory at "<$COMMONAPPDATA>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater".
• The directory at "<$COMMONAPPDATA>\W3i".
• The directory at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\InstallIQ Updater".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\Free Offers from Freeze.com".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\W3i\InstallIQUpdater".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\W3i".
• The directory at "<$SYSDIR>\AI_RecycleBin\{5B0F14D3-0DD1-4336-9AFA-BE4A68909E5A}".
• The directory at "<$SYSDIR>\AI_RecycleBin\{60C3E49E-B2D2-4CCD-A348-AD69E428F8AE}".
• The directory at "<$SYSDIR>\AI_RecycleBin\{9FD0752F-AB97-4FCC-8E8D-49D44887E581}".
• The directory at "<$SYSDIR>\AI_RecycleBin\{E01946F0-576E-4EA6-BBAD-4A8A89C9F7D1}".
• The directory at "<$SYSDIR>\AI_RecycleBin\{F81F186C-CCDD-470B-A445-1E660C431A57}".
• The directory at "<$SYSDIR>\AI_RecycleBin".
• The directory at "<$WINDIR>\Installer\{8E1CB0F1-67BF-4052-AA23-FA22E94804C1}".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If W3i.IQ5.fraud 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!

Registry:

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

• Delete the registry key "1F0BC1E8FB762504AA32AF229E84401C" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\".
• Delete the registry key "1F0BC1E8FB762504AA32AF229E84401C" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\".
• Delete the registry key "7zipap_1320" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ESENT\Process\".
• Delete the registry key "Freeze.com" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\".
• Delete the registry key "instacodecs_1290" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ESENT\Process\".
• Delete the registry key "W3i" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\".

If W3i.IQ5.fraud uses rootkit technologies, use our RegAlyzer, RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.

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.