How to Remove ActiveSecurity | Active Security Removal Guide
ActiveSecurity is a rogue antivirus application that uses graphics to indicate a similarity with Microsoft Security Center. It installs via malware including trojans and brings several files along with it when it installs that it then claims are viral and that in order to clean up the mess the user should purchase the software. Just as with all of these this is a scam and you should run towards a removal of this piece of software whether it’s done personally or by a computer technician. Instructions for how to remove activesecurity below the fold.
It should be noted that this rogue will attempt to uninstall the following security programs that it sees as a threat to it’s “survival” on the computer: (Thanks to bleepingcomputer for this info).
* F-Secure
* Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
* NOD32
* Agnitum
* Avira AntiVir
* avast!
* AVG
* BitDefender
* Sophos
* Kaspersky
First off…. same as usual, go ahead and download a copy of malwarebytes antimalware ( you can find the link on the virus removal toolkit page.) You may wish to attempt uninstalling from the control panel, add/remove programs, but it’s likely that will not completely remove all of the files associated with activesecurity. Run the installer for malwarebytes, update and run a full scan. If you are unable to get malwarebytes installed you have a few options. 1) rename the installer (mbam.exe) to a different file name (henry.exe) and try again. 2) restart in safe mode and re-attempt the install. 3) follow the next step below with regards to killing off the running processes associated with ActiveSecurity and then reattempt the install and scan. (Don’t forget to update.) If you like you may proceed through the complete manual removal of activesecurity before running malwarebytes.
Open task manager and kill of the following running process:
Active Security.exe
If you are unable to open task manager you can either copy and paste the taskmgr.exe executable and then rename it george.exe, or you may wish to use process explorer as an alternative. ( you can find the link on the virus removal toolkit page.)
Next you will need to delete the following files and their folders to remove ActiveSecurity:
%sysroot%\Samples
%docs%\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Active Security
%docs%\All Users\Application Data\Active Security
%userprof%\Local Settings\Temp
%progfiles%\Active Security
%progfiles%\LabelCommand
Active Security.exe
If it’s unclear where the files are located you may make use of windows search features to track down the files. Even after a manual removal I would still go back and run malwarebytes antimalware and a reputable antivirus scan to make sure you have completely removed ActiveSecurity.