Malware.Trace

Malware removal
By Kristopher on November 3, 2010

The Malware.Trace virus is an obnoxious DNS hijacker that has some sinister qualities, but it mostly just messes with your browser and annoys you with constant redirects. Malware.Trace is sometimes referred to as the “Epoclick.com virus” because it tends to frequently redirect people to epoclick.com (which currently points to Google), but the virus also redirects to other sites, including google-analytics.com and various fake antispyware scan sites. This may not sound like a big deal, but when you’re just trying to look at Facebook or check the news or whatever, these constant redirects can make you insane.

As with other DNS hijackers, you might be able to chase the Malware.Trace virus out of your computer by resetting your modem, but just to be safe you might want to do a scan with your security software, and you can also follow these steps to manually remove Malware.Trace for free.

Remove registry values:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftadver_id

Delete Malware.Trace files:

C:Users[user]AppDataRoamingavdrn.dat
C:Users[user]AppDataRoamingapiqfw.dat

DIY Malware.Trace Removal Instructions

Start by removing the above files. If you're not sure how to do this, refer to the instructions below.

Note: In any files I mention above, “%UserProfile%” is a variable referring to your current user’s profile folder. (Not an iEuphemism for muth@fugg@#*!@.) So if you’re using Windows NT/2000/XP/7, by default this is “C:\Documents and Settings\[CURRENT USER]” (e.g., “C:\Documents and Settings\NoahFence”).

How to Manually Delete Badware Files

Need some removing badware files help? No biggie. While you should only manually delete badware files if you're comfy editing your system, you'll find it's pretty easy. And probably really satisfying.

How to delete badware files in Windows XP/Vista/7:

  1. Click your Windows Start menu, then click "Search."
  2. A pop up will ask, "What do you want to search for?" Click "All files and folders."
  3. Type a badware file in the search box, and select "Local Hard Drives."
  4. Click "Search." Once the badware file is found, delete it.

How to stop badware processes:

  1. Click the Start menu, select Run.
  2. Type taskmgr.exe into the the Run command box, and click "OK." You can also launch the Task Manager by pressing keys CTRL + Shift + ESC.
  3. Click Processes tab, and find badware processes.
  4. Once you've found the badware processes, right-click them and select "End Process" to kill badware.

badware processes

How to remove badware registry keys:

Backup your registry before you edit it. Then...

  1. Click the Start menu, and click "Run." An "Open" field will appear. Type "regedit" and click "OK " to open up your Registry Editor. In Windows 7, just type "regedit" into the "Search programs and files" box in the Start menu.
  2. Registry Editor opens as a two-paned window: the left side lets you select registry keys,the right side shows the values of any selected registry key.
  3. To find a badware registry key, select "Edit," then select "Find," and in the search bar type any of badware 's registry keys.
  4. When the badware registry key appears, to delete the badware registry key, right-click it, and select "Modify," then select "Delete."

Deleting badware Registry Keys

How to delete badware DLLs:

  1. Open the Start menu, and click "Run." Type "cmd" in Run, and click "OK." (In Windows 7, just type "regedit" into the "Search programs and files" box in the Start menu.)
  2. To change your current directory, type "cd" in the command box, press "Space," and enter the full directory where the badware DLL is located. If you're not sure where the badware DLL is located, enter "dir" in the command box to display a directory's contents. To go one directory back, type "cd .." in the command box and press "Enter."
  3. When you've found a badware DLL, type "regsvr32 /u SampleDLLName.dll" (e.g., "regsvr32 /u jl27script.dll") and press "Enter."

That's it. If you want to restore any badware DLL you removed, type "regsvr32 DLLJustDeleted.dll" (e.g., "regsvr32 jl27script.dll") into your command box, and press "Enter."

Did badware change your homepage?

  1. Select Start menu > Control Panel > Internet Options > General.
  2. Type your preferred home page's URL.
  3. Click "Use Default," "Apply," and "OK."