1. Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
2. It is possible that the infection you are trying to remove will not allow you to download files on the infected computer. If this is the case, then you will need to download the files requested in this guide on another computer and then transfer them to the infected computer. You can transfer the files via a CD/DVD, external drive, or USB flash drive.
3. Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to Personal Security so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, download the following file to your desktop.
rkill.com
Download Link
4. Once it is downloaded, double-click on the rkill.com in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Personal Security and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a message that rkill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just a fake warning given by Personal Security when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into these infections warnings that close Rkill, a trick is to leave the warning on the screen and then run Rkill again. By not closing the warning, this typically will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that rkill can terminate Personal Security . So, please try running Rkill until the malware is no longer running. You will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. If you continue having problems running rkill.com, you can download
iExplore.exe or
eXplorer.exe, which are renamed copies of rkill.com, and try them instead.
Do not reboot your computer after running rkill as the malware programs will start again.
5. Now you should download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Download Link
6. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
7. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
8. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button. If MalwareBytes' prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
9. MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main program as shown below.
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Screen
10. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform full scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Personal Security related files.
11. MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Scanning Screen
12. When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Scan Finished Screen
You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the Personal Security removal process.
13. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
14. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
MalwareBytes Scan Results
You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
15. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
16. You can now exit the MBAM program.
Your computer should now be free of the Personal Security program.
Linear Mode
