Manual Removal Guide for Fraud.PCPrivacyDefender

[Friday]

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "Fraud.PCPrivacyDefender" 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.

Threat Details:

Categories:

• malware

Description:

Fraud.HomeAntivirus2010 claims to be an antispyware tool. When it is installed to the computer it finds a lot of harmless entries in order to frighten the user and makes him buy a license to get the issue fixed.​

Removal Instructions:

Autorun:

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

• Entries named "PCPrivacyDefender Freeware" and pointing to "?<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\UPSPDAP.exe*".

Files:

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

• The file at "<$APPDATA>\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware.lnk".
• The file at "<$DESKTOP>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware.lnk".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\activate.dat".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\Appbase\pfilelst.xda".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\AV.dat".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\bnlink.dat".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\lapv.dat".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\license.rtf".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\PP.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\pv.dat".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\readme.rtf".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\UPSPDAP.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\UPSPDAP.url".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\UPSPDAP.xml".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\UserAgent.dll".
• The file at "c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware.lnk".
• The file at "c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\PCPrivacyDefender HomePage.url".
• The file at "c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\Uninstall PCPrivacyDefender.lnk".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Fraud.PCPrivacyDefender 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 "<$APPDATA>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\Data\ActivationCode".
• The directory at "<$APPDATA>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\Data".
• The directory at "<$APPDATA>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware\Appbase".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMS>\PCPrivacyDefender Freeware".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Fraud.PCPrivacyDefender 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 "Cleaner2009 Freeware" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\".
• Delete the registry key "PCPrivacyDefender Freeware" at "HKEY_CURRENT_USERHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\".
• Delete the registry key "PCPrivacyDefender Freeware" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\".

If Fraud.PCPrivacyDefender 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.