Software & Hardware Reviews and Tutorials

What is Antivirus Live?

Internet is no longer safe and scammers are inventing newer ways to scam naive PC users. Not all people using computer are technically expert and thieves are taking full advantage of this. Antivirus Live is a rogue (fake) Anti Virus program. When your system gets infected with this software, It will show you fake security alerts and trick you to purchase the full version. It will scan your computer every now and then to show you some fake infections. It will show you messages saying that your computer is on very high risk but all the messages are fake. This software shows those fake message to threat the user so that he buy the program.

Once a user purchase the program, It will stop showing fake infections but then it will start showing your fake Pop Us, Advertisements are ask you to buy more updates, upgrades etc.. This is all scam and never pay money to these thieves. It is not the only fake Antivirus software but there are lots of other similar software as well so please be careful.

How Antivirus Live Got on My Computer?

There are lots of ways your system can catch this dangerous software and some of them are described below :

1. If you download freeware and shareware products from un-trusted sources, your computer can get infected. Usually Spywares are bundled with the software and this is why they are free. The developers of those programs are making money by threatening users with fake alerts.

2. Many people surfing on Internet wants to get things for free and use P2P sharing networks, visit torrent websites, download files from rapidshare and other similar networks. When you use the free software, downloads and other files downloaded from those networks, your computer can get infected as those files are bundled with the Spyware.

3. If you visit questionable websites for serials, cracks and other similar things, you are at a very serious risk. Shady web sites can install Antivirus Live through security holes and automatic downloads, such as video codecs, mp3 downloads, screensaver download and lots more.

How Notorious Antivirus Live Virus Is?

If you see a screen very similar to this, you can be sure that your system is infected with this very obstinate software. You need to take proper actions to remove it from your computer as soon as possible. as you can see in the screenshot below, It looks like the software is scanning for your computer for Virus, but at the end It will show you numerous infections and ask you to buy the software if you want to remove those infections. Don’t fall for this trick and don’t pay for it. Instead, pay for a genuine Spyware software which will always protect you from such threats and won’t let any scammers play with your computer’s security.

All fake Anti Virus software have one thing in common. They bug the user to purchase the program again and again. The software will start scanning your computer itself and show you fake infections. The software will threat you like never before and ask you to purchase the full version to remove the infections. If you fall for this scam, your money is gone. The software are designed by some professionals who specialize in scamming people with various methods. This fake software is just an example of that, there are countless ways these scammers can play with your computer’s security. They are aware that most people are not aware with Spyware Removers and they take full advantage of it.

Some other indications of Antivirus Live and Other Similar Threats

Slow Computer Performance
Annoying Unwanted Pop-Ups
Taskbar Warnings (from right side of the screen where clock is located)
Internet Browsing Re-directs and Hijacks
Warning and Infection messages whenever you run a trusted program.
Unable to Open the Register, Internet Explore or Task Manager.
 High Pressure Marketing techniques asking you to “Purchase Full Version” of software.

How To Remove Antivirus Live Manually?

There are two methods to remove Antivirus Live. You can remove it either manually or automatically. Manual Removal is not recommended unless you are a computer savvy. You need to do several critical operations during removal of Antivirus Live and a minor mistake can cause your computer to stop working.

1. First of all, please start your computer in safe mode. Running your computer in safe mode is very important for Antivirus Live removal. In safe mode, Windows doesn’t run the autoexec.bat or config.sys files, so if a malicious program has made the entry is one of those files, It will not be able to load.  The only startup programs loaded are the operating system and drivers for the mouse, keyboard, and display modes display. To start computer in safe mode, press the F8 key while the system is booting and select "Safe Mode" from the menu that appears.

2. Run Internet Explorer, Click Tools -> Internet Options. Select Connections Tab and click to Lan Settings button. Uncheck "Use a proxy server" box. Click OK. Click Apply. Click OK.

3. Press "Alt+CTRL+Delete" keys of your computer to run task manager. Now select "Processes" tab and end the processes associated with Antivirus Live. In processes tab, please look for all the processes having "sysguard.exe" string in a right side and "O4″ in a left side. Please end all those processes by right clicking on the process and selecting "End Process".

4.  Now download a Spyware Remover like Spyware Doctor and scan your whole computer for any infections and repair the registry according to the findings. If you face any trouble installing Malware Byes software, please rename its installer file to any name and then retry. Antivirus Live tries to prevent the installation of this malware remover so renaming the file should help.  It is very important to remove everything related to this spyware from the registry, otherwise It will return in no time.

5. Please also search your whole computer for *sysguard.exe and you should find suspicious files in these locations
Username–>Local Settings–>Application Data–>[RANDOM]
Username–>Local Settings–>Application Data–>[RANDOM]–>[RANDOM]–>sysguard.exe

Stop Antivirus Live Processes:

[random]sysguard.exe

Remove Antivirus Live Registry Entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AvScan
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Download “RunInvalidSignatures” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyOverride” = “”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings “ProxyServer” = “http=127.0.0.1:5555″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations “LowRiskFileTypes” = “.exe”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments “SaveZoneInformation” = “1″
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[random]“
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “[random]“

Remove Antivirus Live Files (search for *spyguard.exe in your whole computer and delete related files)

[random]sysguard.exe
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[RANDOM CHARACTERS]\
%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\[RANDOM CHARACTERS]\[random]sysguard.exe

To get rid of Antivirus Live automatically, It is highly recommended that you use Automatic Removal tools like Spyware Doctor. If these removal instructions are not working for you, please post here so that we can try to help you further with Antivirus Live Removal. Though Malware Bytes Anti Malware software should get rid of Antivirus Live in few moments. Just scan your computer and everything will be alright.