What is Personal Antivirus?
Personal Antivirus is a fake security product. Hundreds of thousands of people have been infected with this threat and it is one of the most popular fake security suits out there. Once installed on a users computer it often times blocks many applications from running including real security products. Many times it infects what is known as the Windows Hosts file. This makes it so users can not visit certain sites and also blocks security updates for many clients. In almost all cases the Task Manager is disabled as well as the users desktop being highjacked with a message about them being infected with spyware.
This product is nothing more then a scam. These crooks are just trying to steal your money and trick / scare people into making a purchase of this program.
This site has many resources and direct links to security products that work well to help defeat this client. We have even made a video to help those who are infected.
If you find the whole idea of you editing the Windows registry and deleting files a bit too challenging for you then we suggest either purchasing software to remove this threat or hiring a pro to remove it for you. The guys over at www.onlinecomputerrepair.org are great at removing viruses and I know they have dealt with PAV for a while now. They do charge around 89 bucks for the removal of all viruses and spyware but that is far cheaper then taking your computer to a repair shop or calling someone to come out to your house. It's at least an option that should be mentioned.
How Did I Get Infected With Personal Antivirus?
Most people get infected with this when they install a fake video codec to watch a video online. There are many different scenarios out there that do look like real video player updates or patch's so it's easy to see how someone may get infected with this. Another popular way people get infected is known as the drive by download method. It works like this. A Malicious person builds a website or hacks a website an injects code onto the site. Once a user visits the site this code goes to work and attempts to exploit security holes in your browser, OS or any application that you may have installed. It then attempts to download a trojan onto your system. If successful this trojan then goes out and downloads several other programs onto your computer. Often times one will be a fake security program like PAV.
It is very important to note that almost all people infected with this fake client will also have several other viruses on their computer. You need to ensure you remove everything. This is rather easy to do. Just download a copy of Spyware Doctor with Antivirus. It will be able to detect all viruses, spyware, malware and root kits installed on your computer. From there you can make an informed decision on whether you want to attempt a manual removal of your threats or just purchase the program to remove them.
How to Remove Personal Antivirus?
The answer to this will depend on your skill level of using a computer and how badly you are infected as well as several other factors. There are cases were wiping your drive is the best thing to do but in most cases that is way over kill. Almost any expert out there will be able to 100% remove this threat. I know www.onlinecomputerrepair.org can do this because we have already sent many people there way and have only heard good things back. This is by far the easiest way because you do not have to do anything.
The second easiest option is to use known good software that has proven it's self time and again to remove Personal antivirus. Spyware Doctor with Antivirus is one such client. You may need to boot into safe mode with networking to be able to download and install it. You can view our removal guides for more on this.
The hardest option is free but like most things that are free you have to pay with your time. Manual removal of this is possible. In fact I have done it many times over and have actually gotten very good at it. I will go over several different methods. Some a little advanced and some not so advanced. If one guide does not work for you then move on to the next. We have several techniques to cover.
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