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Documents, Programs Missing After “Fake Antivirus” Infection

After an infection by a fake anti-virus program, you may have the following symptoms:

  • Programs missing from the Start Menu;

  • Programs missing from the Quick Launch bar;

  • Nothing appearing on the desktop;

  • Documents, photos, other files missing.

This may occur if the malware has hidden files and disabled certain Windows features.

To resolve:

  1. Download the following file and save it to your Desktop (it should be possible to save a file to the Desktop):

    CleanupFakeAV.bat

  2. If using Windows XP/2003:

    Click Start, Run, CMD and click OK.

    If using Windows Vista/7/2008 or later:

    Click Start , type CMD in the search box and press Ctrl-Shift-Enter to invoke a command prompt in elevated mode:

  3. Type the following commands at the prompt:

    cd %USERPROFILE%\Desktop

    CleanupFakeAV.bat

    The script will then run.

    The script sets some Windows settings back to the default in the registry, attempts to restore the Start Menu/Quick Launch items and unhides all the files on the hard disk.

    This last step may take some time, and may generate error messages. These are not a problem.

  4. When the script finishes, log and log back in for the changes to the registry to take effect.




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