How to Remove Microsoft Windows Antispyware - A Step by Step Guide

How to Remove Microsoft Windows Antispyware - A Step by Step Guide
Page content

What is Microsoft Windows Antispyware – Why Do People want to Remove it?

We will learn how to remove Microsoft Windows Antispyware in this article. Before explaining the removal process, let us take a quick look at what Microsoft Windows Antispyware is. Many Internet users are still not aware of this rogue antispyware and its intentions. This first section is for such people. If you know about the rogue antispyware, you can directly proceed to the next section that explains how to remove the Microsoft Windows Antispyware.

Note: Before we proceed, please understand that the real MS Antispyware product is known as Windows Defender and is freeware.

You must have seen some shareware programs that tell you about the several problems on your computer but will not fix them unless you purchase the software. I encountered many such registry cleaners and computer cleaners. When you run other software, you find that the percentage of problems is much lower or even nil. These are actually rogue software that try to trigger panic in your mind so that you purchase their application. Microsoft Windows Antispyware is a step ahead. Experts suspect that this antispyware, which uses Microsoft’s brand name for free advertising, invites resident malware to your computer. Despite the name, the antispyware is in no way associated with Microsoft.

Prior to Microsoft Windows Antispyware, there was Windows XP antivirus software. This software too employed the name of Windows to cash in on the fears of Internet users. The story begins with installing a trial of Microsoft Antispyware that plants several files all over your computer before running a scan. After the scan, it shows numerous spyware but does not tell you what files are affected. The only message you get is that your system is heavily infected and you need to shell out $50 before you can unlock the shareware to clean the computer. It is all hype. If you have doubts, run any other antispyware – Spyware Doctor or Malwarebytes. You will know that the Microsoft Windows Antivirus just wants to give you shivers so that you purchase the software.

Among other problems it creates are:

  • It changes the home page of your browser and stops you from changing it back to original;
  • It deploys unwanted icons on your desktop;
  • It also makes your computer more prone to malware; and,
  • You get a good amount of false alarms and popups.

Now that you know what Microsoft Windows Antispyware is, you will never want it. But what if you already installed it? Add/Remove programs will not help much because the files will still stay. The next section tells you how to remove Microsoft Windows Antispyware.

How to Remove Microsoft Windows Antispyware

This section explains how to remove Microsoft Windows Antispyware. As we will be deleting some DLLs and making some registry changes, I recommend that you make a backup of your system. If you do not have any system imaging software, you can download and use the free Macrium Reflect that allows you to use a rescue disk if something goes wrong.

Once you have the backup, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Task Manager and locate Antivirus2009 process.
  2. Once you find it, right click and select End Process Tree. You will get a warning message. Ignore it and kill the process tree.
  3. Press CTRL+F. A Search Window will open.
  4. In the filename text box, type WindowsAntispyware*.*
  5. In the drop down box, select Local Disks
  6. Click Search
  7. The Search Window will display a list of files beginning with WindowsAntispyware. Right click each file and click Delete.
  8. Once you delete all the files in the Search Window, proceed to the next step.
  9. Open Start menu and click Run.
  10. In Run, type RegEdit to open the Registry Editor.
  11. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE locate Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentSession\Run
  12. In the right pane, delete the value Windows Antispyware 2009
  13. Close and reboot.

Tip: To clean the computer completely, you may also use a registry cleaner and a system cleaner after the 12th step.

This explains how to remove Microsoft Windows Antispyware. If you read the section on what Microsoft Windows Antispyware is and this is not what you are looking for, probably you are searching for how to uninstall Windows Defender.