get rid of awola

[liu]

I just got plagued by this anti-spyware program. I couldn't find a
complete answer to get rid of it. I eliminated any files named awola,
but it kept coming back. Eventually, I found a suspicious process
"pxhwk.exe" which is stored in Application Data of the user's folder.
I deleted that file and eliminated any reference of the name in
Regedit. Rebooted and it didn't come back.

I think that might be the answer for someone who may encounter this
annoying anti-spyware vender. HTH.

[jen]

"liu" <spamfreeliu@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:064e4c2c-e642-4fe6-8d1b-19a0bf04a81b@56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>I just got plagued by this anti-spyware program. I couldn't find a
> complete answer to get rid of it. I eliminated any files named awola,
> but it kept coming back. Eventually, I found a suspicious process
> "pxhwk.exe" which is stored in Application Data of the user's folder.
> I deleted that file and eliminated any reference of the name in
> Regedit. Rebooted and it didn't come back.
> I think that might be the answer for someone who may encounter this
> annoying anti-spyware vender. HTH.

How to remove Awola 6.0 (Removal Instructions):
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/malware-removal/awola

-jen

[Andy Walker]

liu wrote:

>I just got plagued by this anti-spyware program.

You mean you didn't install it yourself? How exactly did you get
plagued by it?

> I couldn't find a complete answer to get rid of it.

I found quite a few by doing a Google search. Which one's did you
try? Could this be a new version of the malware?

>I eliminated any files named awola,
>but it kept coming back.

A common mistake is to terminate the application before identifying
all of its components.

>Eventually, I found a suspicious process
>"pxhwk.exe" which is stored in Application Data of the user's folder.
>I deleted that file and eliminated any reference of the name in
>Regedit. Rebooted and it didn't come back.

Are you sure? Have you eliminated it from your system restore? Could
there be another element that you missed?

>I think that might be the answer for someone who may encounter this
>annoying anti-spyware vender. HTH.

They are not a vendor, they are criminals and they are not peddling
"Anti-Spyware", it's extortion ware.

[liu]

On Apr 27, 7:06*pm, Andy Walker <awal...@nspank.invalid> wrote:

> I found quite a few by doing a Google search. *Which one's did you
> try? *Could this be a new version of the malware?
>
I found a few too and followed their instruction. It didn't work. The
alert stayed and it installed the application soon. I suspect that the
"criminal" updated their mechanism so people can't get rid of their
software.

> >I eliminated any files named awola,
> >but it kept coming back.
>
> A common mistake is to terminate the application before identifying
> all of its components.
>

How do you identify all of its components? I searched each process on
interne. If it's not from a known company and not listed as OK, I take
it as suspect. Find it on HD and move it out of the system. Reboot and
see if the sympton stays or go away.


> >Eventually, I found a suspicious process
> >"pxhwk.exe" which is stored in Application Data of the user's folder.
> >I deleted that file and eliminated any reference of the name in
> >Regedit. Rebooted and it didn't come back.
>
> Are you sure? *Have you eliminated it from your system restore? Could
> there be another element that you missed?

At least it didn't come back. I'm away from home. I will check to see
if it really goes away.

>
> >I think that might be the answer for someone who may encounter this
> >annoying anti-spyware vender. HTH.
>
> They are not a vendor, they are criminals and they are not peddling
> "Anti-Spyware", it's extortion ware.

I agree. How can they expect people trusting their software by
hijacking their system?