How to Eliminate IE Antivirus from Windows

Filed under: technology

Trojan Horse photo by GoGap

I recently had an annoying encounter with a trojan on my Windows XP SP2 system.  Every time I opened an Internet Explorer Browser window or tried to use Windows Explorer, a “Critical Error!” message popped up that said:

Attention, Michael Lind! Some dangerous viruses detected in your system.  Microsoft Windows XP files corrupted. This may lead to the destruction of important files in C:\WINDOWS.  Download protection software now!  Click OK to download the antispyware. (Recommended)

I was given the choice to click Yes or No.  I didn’t dare click Yes, but clicking No just popped up a browser window with a realistic looking antivirus scan simulation.

I tried my usual tools to attempt to eradicate this malware:

• Norton Antivirus 2007 did not find anything
• Spybot Search and Destroy 1.52 did not find anything
• Ad-Aware 2007 found “IE Antivirus” and said that it removed the malware, but the behavior persisted

Fortunately I was able to find a nice description of IE Antivirus and how to eradicate it at Bleeping Computer.  The anti-malware tool that did the job was Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware.  The free version managed to detect and eliminate IE Antivirus using just the quick scan mode.

Thanks Bleeping Computer and Malwarebytes!  I now have yet another reason to recommend Firefox!