How to Disable Anti-Malware Scanners Before Cleaning

In order to remove malware from your computer, there are times when your helper on the forums may request that you use specialized fix tools. Certain embedded files that are part of these specialized fix tools used on Dell's Malware Removal forum, may at times be detected by your anti-virus or anti-malware scanner as a "RiskTool", "Hacking tool", "Potentially unwanted tool", a virus or a "Trojan".

The tools have been created and tested by security experts and researchers, so if your anti-virus or anti-malware program finds them as malware, the detection is a "False Positive". Due to the fact that anti-virus scanners cannot distinguish between "good" and "malicious" use of such programs, you may be alerted to manually or automatically remove them. The removal of these files may have unpredictable results.

Thus, in order to avoid problems, it is very important that you temporarily disable your anti-virus and/or anti-malware programs only when instructed to do so by one of the Dell Community volunteer analysts.

The procedure to disable resident protection differs for different programs. The following information will aid you in disabling common anti-virus and anti-malware programs.

* When your helper has confirmed that your system is clean, it is important that you re-enable your security programs to avoid re-infection.

AD-AWARE AD-WATCH
•    Right click on the Ad-Watch icon in the system tray.
•    At the bottom of the screen there will be two checkable items called "Active" and "Automatic".
o    Active: This will turn Ad-Watch On\Off without closing it.
o    Automatic: Suspicious activity will be blocked automatically.
•    Uncheck both of those boxes.
•    (When done, you can re-enable it using the same steps but this time check both boxes.)

AVG ANTI-SPYWARE
•    Launch AVG Anti-Spyware.
•    From the "Status" menu, select "Change state" to inactivate 'Resident Shield' and 'Automatic Updates'.
•    Right-click on AVG Anti-Spyware in the system tray and uncheck "Start with Windows".

COMODO BO CLEAN
•    Right-click the System Tray Icon.
•    Select Shut down BO Clean button.
•    Restarts on reboot or open from Program Menu.

COUNTERSPY
•    Right-click on the running CounterSpy icon in the sytem tray.
•    Hover your mouse over "Active protection".
•    A menu will slide out and then you need to left click on "Disable Active Protection".
•    Disabling CS Active Protection should cause the systray icon to turn orange/red and hovering your mousing over the icon will then state "Active protection is disabled".
(When we are done, re-enable Counterspy by launching the program from Start > Programs, click on the Active Protection. It will either say Active Protection enabled or disabled. On the right side, you can select each of the tasks (scroll down to see all of them) individually, then either enable or disable them on the bottom right, individually. If you have a problem doing that then click on help, choose run setup wizard, click next 2 times, make sure automatic updates is set to yes, click next, make sure enable active protection is set to yes, click next, then click finish, then exit. Then open CounterSpy to make sure that the active protection has been enabled.)

MALWAREBYTES' ANTI-MALWARE
Right-click on the icon in the System Tray > Uncheck “Enable Protection” >Uncheck Start With Windows
To re-enable later, right-click on the MBAM icon in the systray and reverse the earlier procedure, thus: Select Enable Protection. Right-click again and select Start with Windows.

PREVX
•    Right click on the Prevx icon in your system tray and choose Show Management Console.
•    On the Management Console click the Protection Level drop-down menu.
•    You will see three levels:
o    Maximum
o    Off
o    User Defined
•    To disable all protection set the level to Off.
•    You will receive a prompt asking "You are about to change your security settings. Do you wish to continue?" Click Yes.
•    Click the X on the upper right hand corner to exit the Management console.

PROCESS GUARD
•    Right-click the blue lock ProcessGuard icon located in the system tray.
•    Uncheck 'protection enabled'.
•    Click yes.

REG DEFEND
Right click the icon for RegDefend in the system tray and select Exit.

SPYBOT'S TEATIMER
•    Launch Spybot S&D, go to the Mode menu and make sure "Advanced Mode" is selected.
•    On the left hand side, click on Tools, then click on the Resident Icon in the list.
•    Uncheck the "Resident "TeaTimer" (Protection of overall system settings) active." box.
•    Click on the "System Startup" icon in the List
•    Uncheck the "TeaTimer" box and "OK" any prompts.
•    If Teatimer gives you a warning that changes were made, click the "Allow Change" box when prompted.
•    Exit Spybot S&D when done.
•    (When we are done, you can re-enable Teatimer using the same steps but this time place a check next to "Resident TeaTimer" and check the "TeaTimer" box in System Startup.]

 
SPY SWEEPER
•    Open Spy Sweeper and click on Options > Program Options and uncheck "load at windows startup".
•    On the left click "shields" and then uncheck everything there.
•    Uncheck "home page shield".
•    Uncheck "automatically restore default without notification".
•    Exit the program.
•    (When we are done, you can re-enable it using the same steps but this time reverse them.)

 
SPYWARE DOCTOR
•    To disable Spyware Doctor from running on your system startup:
•    First, disable the OnGuard Tools. This way, when you exit Spyware Doctor, these tools won't stay resident in the background.
•    Click the "Settings" button on the left side.
•    Click the "Startup Settings" link.
•    Uncheck "Run at Windows Startup".
•    Click the "Apply" button.
•    Exit by a right-click on the "Spyware Doctor" icon in the system tray and choose "Exit".
•    [To enable Spyware Doctor when you are finished, open the program, Settings>Startup Settings> CHECK "Run at Windows Startup">APPLY
Exit. Reboot.]

To disable PCTools Browser Monitor: If you are running Internet Explorer, click Tools > Manage Add-ons. If PCTools Browser Monitor is on the list, click it & select Disable. You will need to restart your browser after making the change.

SPYWARE GUARD
•    Right click the running icon of SpywaregGuard in the System
Tray to open the program.
•    Then go to Menu, File, and choose Exit.
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•    To disable from starting again at reboot, right-click on the SG icon in your system tray and SpywareGuard should open.
Click "Options" and then uncheck these options under the "General" tab:
Enable Real-Time Scanning
Enable Download Protection
Enable Browser Hijack Protection

Click "Save Settings"

    TROJAN HUNTER
•    Go to TrojanHunter Guard in the the system tray. It is a light blue icon with a magnifying glass and red handle.
•    Right click on it and select settings.
•    Uncheck "Load at startup" and "Enabled". Make sure that the program, TrojanHunter itself, is also closed/not running.

WINDOWS DEFENDER
•    Click Start > Programs > Windows Defender or launch from the system tray icon.
•    Click on Tools & Settings > Options.
•    Under Real-time protection options, uncheck the "Real-time protection" check box.
•    Click Save.
•    Go to Start > Control Panel > Security > Windows Defender, at the bottom of the Window Defenders page uncheck under Administrator Options "Use Windows Defender" and then Save.
•    (When we are done, you can re-enable Defender using the same steps but this time place a check next to "Turn on real-time protection" check box.)

WINDOWS ONECARE
•    To Disable Antivirus: Open the Windows OneCare user interface.
•    Click View or Change Settings > Antivirus Tab.
•    Click the radio button to turn the anti-virus off.
•    To Disable Firewall: Open the Windows OneCare user interface.
•    Click View or Change Settings > Firewall Tab.
•    Drag down the slider to turn the firewall off.

WINPATROL
Right-click the running icon of Winpatrol in the sytem tray and choose EXIT.