Removing VX2 from WinXP

[Smelsch]

Hi,

Over the last 2 or 3 months the VX2 adware has made my life a living
hell. The damned thing was responsible for regularly crashing my
internet, and most annoyingly, my PC. I spent HOURS trying to work out
how to get rid of it.

I tried Ad-Aware, Pest Patrol and a bunch of other anti-adware
programs but the damned thing KEPT COMING BACK!!!!

Finally, I found a fix that works and because I got so much help from
these newsgroups, I think it's only fair to pass what I've found out
along.

I actually found the following on 1 of the lavasoft forums. I coulda
kissed the guy who put it up there after I tried it and it worked.
However, I have no idea whether this is considered to be a legitimate
method or not so it may not work for everyone.

I've posted this to a number of groups currently discussing this
abominable VX2 parasite.


[I TURNED OFF SYSTEM RESTORE 1ST AS SOME OF THE FILES WERE ALWAYS
REAPPEARING IN THE RESTORE FOLDERS]

Go to regedit
Expand:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\Guardian

and note the file name listed in the right window.

RightClick (in WinXP,>permissions>advanced, unchedk box "Allow
inheritable permissions"

Hit OK, and REMOVE on next prompt.

Restart the computer - be patient, it will shut down very slowly [MINE
TOOK 20MIN TO SHUT DOWN - SMELSCH], but wait for the system to shut
itself down.

Run AdAware and it will find and delete the files.

Go back to the registry editor, recheck the permissions box on that
key, right click>Delete the Guardian folder

Run AdAware again to complete cleanup (be sure to run the initial scan
settings suggested above - they found some hidden stuff the smartscan
had missed).

Good Luck
Smelsch

 

[Jack]

Hi.

AD-AWARE (Lavasoft) have developed a plugin for the VX2 problem, if you
have AD-AWARE 6.0 build 181 then go to the Lavasoft site and download
the plugin, read their instructions for instalation.
After the install open AD-AWARE go to plugins, high-light and scan.

Jack.

*****************************************************

 

[Guest]

Please see the following instructions.

Spyware Removal:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/windowsxpsolutions.htm

And get VX2 Cleaner from here:
http://www.lavasoft.de/

Startup and Temporary Files Cleanup:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/optimizewindows.htm

Good Luck!

 

[Locke Nash Cole]

Try..

http://tools.zerosrealm.com/VX2Finder.exe

-L

 

[Alex Nichol]

Over the last 2 or 3 months the VX2 adware has made my life a living
hell. The damned thing was responsible for regularly crashing my
internet, and most annoyingly, my PC. I spent HOURS trying to work out
how to get rid of it.

I tried Ad-Aware, Pest Patrol and a bunch of other anti-adware
programs but the damned thing KEPT COMING BACK!!!!

Lavasoft now have a plugin that you can install in AdAware to deal with
VX2 - linked from the news on their main page www.lavasoftusa.com