Green AV (rogue anti-spyware removal guide)
Green AV is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Anti-virus-1. This program is classified as a rogue because it uses deceptive promotion techniques and exaggerated scan results as a method to make you think you are infected. Green AV is promoted through the use of fake online anti-malware scanners, that when finished, will state that your computer is infected and that you should download and install Green AV in order to protect it. It is important to know that the online scanner is just an advertisement and has no way of knowing what is running on your computer.
Once download, Green AV will be configured to start automatically when you login to Windows. Once running it will scan your computer and then list a variety of infections that it will not remove until you purchase the program. These infections, though, are not real and do not exist on your computer. Green AV is only showing them to try and trick you into thinking that there is some sort of infection on your computer.
Green AV screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 11 images you can view.
When Green AV is installed you will also find your computer filled with various warnings and alerts stating that your computer is infected in some manner. This program will hijack both Internet Explorer and Firefox to randomly display warnings when browsing the web that state your computer is infected and that you should purchase Green AV to protect yourself. The warning in Firefox is “This web site you are visiting has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.” and the warning in Internet Explorer is “Your system might be at risk, click here to protect your system with Green AV.”. Green AV will also redirect search results for anything related to Green AV to show custom search results rather than the legitimate one. Last but not least, you will also see constant alerts from the Windows taskbar that state that there is some sort of malicious activity occurring on your computer. These alerts, like web browser hijacks are just another attempt to make you think you are infected and should be ignored.
As you can see, Green AV was created to trick you into purchasing the program by making you think that there is a security risk on your computer. In reality, the security risk is Green AV and the malware that was bundled with it. To remove these programs, please use the guide below.
Threat Classification:
Advanced information:
Tools Needed for this fix:
Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:
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O2 – BHO: WStechB – {A5DBD8CB-DF8A-4992-A655-B155216F6AFB} – C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\WStech.dll
O4 – HKLM\..\Run: [37465982736455] C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\mradll.exe
O4 – HKLM\..\Run: [03874569874596] C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\rwg.exe
Guide Updates:
09/19/09 – Initial guide creation.
Automated Removal Instructions for Green AV using Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware:
- Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
- Download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Download Link
- Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
- Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
- When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.
- MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main program as shown below.
- On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Green AV related files.
- MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
- When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.
You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the GreenAV removal process.
- You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
- A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
- When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
- You can now exit the MBAM program.
Your computer should now be free of the GreenAV program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.
If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:
Preparation Guide For Use Before Posting A Hijackthis Log
Associated Green AV Files:
Please note some of these entries may be random:
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\mwrdll.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\rwg.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\Viruses.dat
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\wsav.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\WStech.dll
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\gwr\wtds05.exe
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\ Green AV .lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Green AV
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Green AV\ Green AV .lnk
Associated Green AV Windows Registry Information:
Please note some of these entries may be random:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GAV
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{29256442-2C14-48CA-B756-3EE0F8BDC774}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\WStech.DLL
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{A5DBD8CB-DF8A-4992-A655-B155216F6AFB}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{051C9A06-FB08-486F-B09B-8B33B261637D}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{512E801E-2F02-4ADE-ACAA-58F08A22B2F8}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WStech.WStechB
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WStech.WStechB.1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GAV
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{A5DBD8CB-DF8A-4992-A655-B155216F6AFB}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\LanmanServer\Shares
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{A5DBD8CB-DF8A-4992-A655-B155216F6AFB} “NoExplorer”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “03874569874596″
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “37465982736455″
This is a self-help guide. Use at your own risk.
