Remove “AVASoft Professional Antivirus” virus (Removal Guide)

“AVASoft Professional Antivirus” is a computer virus, which pretends to be a legitimate antivirus program and claims that malware has been detected on your computer, then it will state that you need to pay money to register the software to remove these non-existent threats.

AVASoft Professional Antivirus is distributed through hacked or infected websites, which will promt you with a fake pop-up window indicate that your computer is infected or your computer requires a software update. Alternatively, your computer may be infected with AVASoft Professional Antivirus from an infected email attachment or drive-by-downloads which will exploit a vulnerability in older versions of Java or Adobe software.
Once installed, AVASoft Professional Antivirus will be add a a random file name in a random folder under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\, in XP, or C:\ProgramData, in Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. AVASoft Professional Antivirus will then be configured to start automatically when you login to your computer.

AVASoft Professional Antivirus will display fake security alerts that are designed to think that your data is at risk or that your computer is severely infected.These messages include:

Security Monitor: WARNING!
Attention! System detected a potential hazard (TrojanSPM/LX) on your computer that may infect executable files. Your private information and PC safety is at risk.
To get rid of unwanted spyware and keep your computer safe your need to update your current security software.
Click Yes to download official intrusion detection system (IDS software).

Spyware.IEMonster activity detected. This is spyware that attempts to steal passwords from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Outlook and other programs.
Click here to remove it immediately with AVASoft Professional Antivirus.

AVASoft Professional Antivirus Firewall Alert
AVASoft Professional Antivirus Firewall has blocked a program from accessing the Internet.
Internet Explorer Internet Browser is infected with worm SVCHOST.Stealth.Keyloger. This worm is trying to send your credit card details using Internet Explorer Internet Browser to connect to remote host.

AVASoft Professional Antivirus Warning
Some critical system files of your computer were modified by malicious program. It may cause system instability and data loss.
Click here to block unauthorised modification by removing threats (Recommended)

AVASoft Professional Antivirus Warning
Your PC is still infected with dangerous viruses. Activate antivirus protection to prevent data loss and avoid theft of your credit card details.

AVASoft Professional Antivirus Warning
Intercepting programs that may compromise your privacy and harm your system have been detected on your PC.
Click here to remove them immediately with AVASoft Professional Antivirus.

If your computer is infected with AVASoft Professional Antivirus virus, then you are seeing the following screens:

AVASoft Professional Antivirus is a scam, and you should ignore any alerts that this malicious software might generate.
Under no circumstance should you buy AVASoft Professional Antivirus as this could lead to identity theft, and if you have, you should contact your bank and dispute the charge stating that the program is a scam and a computer virus.
Registration codes for AVASoft Professional Antivirus
As an optional step,you can use any of the following license keys to register AVASoft Professional Antivirus and stop the fake alerts.

AVASoft Professional Antivirus activation code: AA39754E-715219CE
Please keep in mind that entering the above registration code will NOT remove AVASoft Professional Antivirus from your computer , instead it will just stop the fake alerts so that you’ll be able to complete our removal guide more easily.

AVASoft Professional Antivirus – Virus Removal Guide

STEP 1: Remove AVASoft Professional Antivirus malicious files with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Malwarebytes Chameleon technologies will allow us to install and run a Malwarebytes Anti-Malware scan without being blocked by AVASoft Professional Antivirus.

1. Right click on your browser icon, and select Run As or Run as Administrator. This should allow your browser to open so that we can then download Malwarebytes Chameleon.
   
   If you’ll see a “Warning! The site you are trying visit may harm your computer!” message in your web browser window, you can safely click on the Ignore warnings and visit that site in the current state (not recommended) link, because this a bogus alert from AVASoft Professional Antivirus.
2. Download Malwarebytes Chameleon  from the below link, and extract it to a folder in a convenient location.
   MALWAREBYTES CHAMELEON DOWNLOAD LINK  (This link will open a new web page from where you can download Malwarebytes Chameleon)
   
3. Make certain that your infected computer is connected to the internet and then open the Malwarebytes Chameleon folder, and double-click on the svchost.exe file.
   
   IF Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will not start, double-click on the other renamed files until you find one will work, which will be indicated by a black DOS/command prompt window.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to press a key to continue and Chameleon will proceed to download and install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for you.
   
5. Once it has done this, it will update Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and you’ll need to click OK when it says that the database was updated successfully.
   
6. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will now attempt to kill all the malicious process associated with AVASoft Professional Antivirus.Please keep in mind that this process can take up to 10 minutes, so please be patient.
   
7. Next, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware will automatically open and perform a Quick scan for AVASoft Professional Antivirus malicious files as shown below.
   
8. Upon completion of the scan, click on Show Result
   
9. You will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware has detected.
   Make sure that everything is Checked (ticked),then click on the Remove Selected button.
   
10. After your computer restarts, open Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and perform a Full System scan to verify that there are no remaining threats

STEP 2: Remove AVASoft Professional Antivirus rootkit with HitmanPro

In some cases,AVASoft Professional Antivirus will also install a rootkit on victims computer.To remove this rootkit we will use HitmanPro.

1. Download HitmanPro from the below link,then double-click on it to start this program.
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download HitmanPro)
   IF you are experiencing problems while trying to start HitmanPro, you can use the Force Breach mode.To start HitmanPro in Force Breach mode, hold down the left CTRL key when you start HitmanPro and all non-essential processes are terminated, including the malware process. (How to start HitmanPro in Force Breach mode – Video)
2. HitmanPro will start and you’ll need to follow the prompts (by clicking on the Next button) to start a system scan with this program.
   
   
3. HitmanPro will start scanning your computer for AVASoft Professional Antivirus malicious files as seen in the image below.
   
4. Once the scan is complete,you’ll see a screen which will display all the infected files that this utility has detected, and you’ll need to click on Next to remove this malicious files.
   
5. Click Activate free license to start the free 30 days trial and remove all the malicious files from your computer.
   

STEP 3: Double check for any left over infections with Emsisoft Emergency Kit

1. You can download Emsisoft Emergency Kit from the below link,then extract it to a folder in a convenient location.
   EMSISOFT EMERGENCY KIT DOWNLOAD LINK ((This link will open a new web page from where you can download Emsisoft Emergency Kit)
2. Open the Emsisoft Emergency Kit folder and double click EmergencyKitScanner.bat, then allow this program to update itself.
   
3. After the Emsisoft Emergency Kit has update has completed,click on the Menu tab,then select Scan PC.
   
4. Select Smart scan and click on the SCAN button to search for AVASoft Professional Antivirus malicious files.
   
5. When the scan will be completed,you will be presented with a screen reporting which malicious files has Emsisoft detected on your computer, and you’ll need to click on Quarantine selected objects to remove them.
   

If you are still experiencing problems while trying to remove AVASoft Professional Antivirus from your machine, please start a new thread in our Malware Removal Assistance forum.