Manual Removal Guide for fakeWGA

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "fakeWGA" 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:

• trojan

Description:

Disables the Windows firewall, adds itself and a services.exe in Windows\etc\ as services. Both run in background and are registered as autostarting services. They connect to various IPs and wait for incoming TCP and UDP connections.

Supposed Functionality:

supposed to be a part of Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)

Removal Instructions:

Autorun:

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

• Entries named "Microsoft (R) Windows Protected Content Restoration Service" and pointing to "<$WINDIR>\etc\services.exe".

Files:

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

• The file at "<$WINDIR>\svchost.exe".
• The file at "<$WINDIR>\etc\services.exe".
• The file at "<$SYSDIR>\wgavn.exe".
• A file with an unknown location named "wgavn.exe".
• A file with an unknown location named "services.exe".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If fakeWGA 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 "<$WINDIR>\etc".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If fakeWGA 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 "svchost" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\".
• Delete the registry key "svchost" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\".
• Delete the registry key "svchost" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\".
• Delete the registry value "<$WINDIR>\svchost.exe" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List\".
• Delete the registry value "<$WINDIR>\svchost.exe" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List\".
• Delete the registry value "<$WINDIR>\svchost.exe" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List\".
• Remove "<$WINDIR>\etc\services.exe" from registry value "Shell" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\".
• Remove "<$WINDIR>\etc\services.exe" from registry value "Userinit" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\".
• Delete the registry key "Tmp" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\".
• Delete the registry key "ProtectedContentSvc" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\".
• Delete the registry key "wgavn" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\".
• Delete the registry key "ProtectedContentSvc" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\".
• Delete the registry key "wgavn" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\".
• Delete the registry value "<$WINDIR>\etc\services.exe" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List\".
• Delete the registry value "<$WINDIR>etc\services.exe" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\AuthorizedApplications\List\".

If fakeWGA 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.