Related to Green AV and Eco Antivirus, Earth Antivirus is a rogue antivirus program that uses scare tactics to push users into purchasing a fake software license. Earth Antivirus installs itself on the system using Trojans that get downloaded from fake online scanner websites and malicious websites. Once installed, the rogue software launches itself as a service and performs an endless stream of fake virus scans, consequently tagging a lot of non-existent viruses as those affecting the system. Alongside other low performance PC related symptoms, a steady stream of fake warning pop-ups are also displayed from the Windows Taskbar. Finally, Earth Antivirus redirects the user to the payment page of the so-called ‘full’ version of Earth Antivirus, under the pretext that the currently installed ‘trial’ version is not sufficient to remove the detected ‘threats’. However, it should be kept in mind that Earth Antivirus is a fake program that cannot remove any type of malware from your computer.
As soon as you find a copy of Earth Antivirus on your system, you should initiate Earth Antivirus removal. In order to delete Earth Antivirus, you need to stop its running processes, unregister its DLL files, delete its files and folders and remove its registry entries.
File Removal Procedures
The first step you need to take for Earth Antivirus removal is to stop the following processes:
- ergui.exe
- ErV_paid.exe
- eav.exe
- msdl.exe
- vec.exe
Next, it is necessary to unregister the following DLL files:
- gsl.dll
- WStech.dll
The next step in Earth Antivirus removal is to delete the following files and folders:
Windows XP:
- %Documents and Settings%\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Earth AV
- %Documents and Settings%\All Users\Desktop\Earth AV.lnk
- %Documents and Settings%\All Users\Application Data\Earth AV
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\eav
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\eav\Base.dat
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\eav\msdl.exe
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\eav\msll.exe
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\eav\vec.exe
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Machine
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Machine\WStech.dll
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\ Earth AV
- c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\ Earth AV .lnk
- %APPDATA%\mozilla\firefox\profiles\\gsl.dll
- ergui.exe
- ErV_paid.exe
Windows Vista/7:
- %Documents and Settings%\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Earth AV
- %Documents and Settings%\All Users\Desktop\Earth AV.lnk
- %Documents and Settings%\All Users\Application Data\Earth AV
- %USER%\AppData\eav
- %USER%\AppData \eav\Base.dat
- %USER%\AppData \eav\msdl.exe
- %USER%\AppData \eav\msll.exe
- %USER%\AppData \eav\vec.exe
- %USER%\AppData \Microsoft\Machine
- %USER%\AppData \Microsoft\Machine\WStech.dll
- %USER%\Documents\Start Menu\Programs\ Earth AV
- %USER% \Desktop\ Earth AV .lnk
- %APPDATA%\mozilla\firefox\profiles\\gsl.dll
- ergui.exe
- ErV_paid.exe
After the above steps have been completed, Earth Antivirus no longer exists on your hard disk. In order to make sure of this fact it is recommended to scan the entire PC using genuine antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus.
Registry Removal Procedures
File removal alone is not sufficient to completely delete Earth Antivirus. The following keys and settings need to be deleted from the Windows Registry in order to ensure complete Earth Antivirus Removal:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Earth AV
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “Earth AV”
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Earth AV
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\EAV
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{29256442-2C14-48CA-B756-3EE0F8BDC774}
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\WStech.DLL
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{A5DBD8CB-DF8A-4992-A655-B155216F6AFB}
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface\{051C9A06-FB08-486F-B09B-8B33B261637D}
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{512E801E-2F02-4ADE-ACAA-58F08A22B2F8}
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WStech.WStechB
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WStech.WStechB.1
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{A5DBD8CB-DF8A-4992-A655-B155216F6AFB}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Class\{4D36E96E-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\S
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “mxcll”
Now it is safe to say that Earth Antivirus has been completely removed from your computer.
Conclusion
Manual Earth Antivirus removal is not recommended for inexperienced users, as any mistake made during removal could cause serious damage to the operating system of the computer. Therefore, inexperienced users are advised to make use of a web-based repair service such as www.onlinecomputerrepair.org or legitimate antivirus software such as Spyware Doctor with Antivirus to ensure safe Earth Antivirus removal.