How to remove Antivirus Action (Uninstall instructions)

Antivirus Action is a new rogue antispyware program from the same family of malware as Antivirus IS. The program is distributed with the help of trojans. When the trojan is started, it will download and install Antivirus Action onto your computer and configure it to run automatically when you logon to Windows.

When Antivirus Action is installed, it will imitate a system scan and detect a lot of various infections that will not be fixed unless you first purchase the program. Important to know, all of these reported infections are fake and don’t actually exist on your computer! So you can safely ignore the scan results that Antivirus Action gives you.

While Antivirus Action is running, it will block the ability to run any programs as a method to scare you into thinking that your computer is infected with malware. The following warning will be shown when you try to run the Notepad:

Application cannot be executed. The file notepad.exe is infected.
Do you want to activate your antivirus software now.

What is more, the rogue will flood your computer with warnings and fake security alerts. Some of the alerts:

Windows Security alert
Windows reports that computer is infected. Antivirus software
helps to protect your computer against viruses and other
security threats. Click here for the scan your computer. Your
system might be at risk now.

INFILTRATION ALERT
Your computer is being attacked by a Internet
Virus. It could be a password stealing attack, a
trojan – dropper or similar.

DETAILS
Threat: Win32/Nuqel.E
Do you want to block this attack?

Last but not least, Antivirus Action will hijack Internet Explorer so that it will randomly show a warning page which states:

Internet Explorer Warning – visiting this web site may harm your computer!
Most likely causes:
The website contains exploits that can launch a malicious code on your computer
Suspicious network activity detected
There might be an active spyware running on your computer

What you can try:
– Purchase Antivirus System PRO for secure Internet surfing (Recommended).
– Check your computer for viruses and malware.
– More information

Of course, all of these above warnings and alerts nothing more but a scam and like false scan results should be ignored!

As you can see, Antivirus Action is a scam that designed with one purpose to trick you into purchasing so-called full version of the program. Do not be fooled into buying the software! Instead of doing so, follow the removal guide below in order to remove Antivirus Action and any associated malware from your computer for free.

Symptoms in a HijackThis Log

O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [{RANDOM}] %Temp%\{RANDOM}\{RANDOM}agnz.exe

Automatic removal instructions for Antivirus Action

Step 1. Reboot your computer in Safe mode with networking

Restart your computer.

After hearing your computer beep once during startup, start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. On a computer that is configured for booting to multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot Menu appears.

Instead of Windows loading as normal, Windows Advanced Options menu appears similar to the one below.

Windows Advanced Options menu

When the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, select Safe mode with networking and then press ENTER.

Step 2. Reset Internet Explorer Proxy options

Run Internet Explorer, Click Tools -> Internet Options as as shown in the screen below.

Internet Explorer – Tools menu

You will see window similar to the one below.

Internet Explorer – Internet options

Select Connections Tab and click to Lan Settings button. You will see an image similar as shown below.

Internet Explorer – Lan settings

Uncheck “Use a proxy server” box. Click OK to close Lan Settings and Click OK to close Internet Explorer settings.

Step 3. Stop Antivirus Action from running

Download HijackThis from here. Run it and click Scan button. Look for lines that looks like:

O4 – HKLM\..\Run: [audpdogk] c:\docume~1\user\locals~1\temp\akotrowvc\bcgcihiagnz.exe
O4 – HKCU\..\Run: [audpdogk] c:\docume~1\user\locals~1\temp\akotrowvc\bcgcihiagnz.exe

Note: list of infected items may be different, but all of them have “agnz.exe” string in a right side and “O4″ in a left side.

Place a checkmark against each of them. Once you have selected all entries, close all running programs then click once on the “fix checked” button. Close HijackThis.

Step 4. Remove Antivirus Action associated malware

Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM). Close all programs and Windows on your computer.

Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application. 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 a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, then click Finish.

If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.

Once the program has loaded you will see window similar to the one below.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Window

Select Perform Quick Scan, then click Scan, it will start scanning your computer. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.

When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results. You will see a list of infected items similar as shown below. Note: list of infected items may be different than what is shown in the image below.

Malwarebytes Anti-malware, list of infected items

Make sure all entries have a checkmark at their far left and click “Remove Selected” button to remove Antivirus Action. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated Antivirus Action files and registry keys and add them to the programs’ quarantine. When MalwareBytes Anti-malware has finished removing the infection, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.

Antivirus Action removal notes

Note 1: if you can not download, install, run or update Malwarebytes Anti-malware, then follow the steps: Malwarebytes won`t install, run or update – How to fix it.

Note 2: if you need help with the instructions, then post your questions in our Spyware Removal forum.

Note 3: your current antispyware and antivirus software let the infection through ? Then you may want to consider purchasing the FULL version of MalwareBytes Anti-malware to protect your computer in the future.

Antivirus Action creates the following files and folders

%Temp%\{RANDOM}\
%Temp%\{RANDOM}\{RANDOM}agnz.exe

Antivirus Action creates the following registry keys and values

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\PhishingFilter | “Enabled” = “0”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings | “ProxyOverride” = “”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings | “ProxyServer” = “http=127.0.0.1:30215”
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings | “ProxyEnable” = “1”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | {RANDOM}
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | {RANDOM}