How to Remove Winivstr.exe

Winivstr.exe is a malware program. If you detect this file on your computer, you should take immediate action and remove the program from your system. You may be unaware that you are infected with the winivstr.exe virus until you get a pop up message informing you that your system is infected and you should download an up-to-date anti-spyware tool.

In truth, downloading the up-to-date anti-spyware tool indicated in the message box only increases the infection. This is because the anti-spyware tool referred to in the message is actually a malware program that will only cause more problems on your system.

Winivstr.exe may be described as scareware malware. Users are informed that their security has been compromised and that they should download a spyware program, often for a fee, to remove the infection. However, instead of getting protected, users become even more infected.

Winivstr.exe may often be found with braviax.exe, here are instructions for the removal of braviax.exe.

Winivstr.exe may be removed manually or with the help of malware protection tools.

How to Remove Winivstr.exe

Perform the steps listed below to get rid of the malicious winivstr.exe file.

Step 1: You start by searching for the winivstr.exe file.

1. Go to Start and click Search.
2. Select All files and folders.
3. Enter winivstr.exe in All or part of the file name.
4. Select My Computer from the Look in list and click Search.
5. Copy and paste the file path for winivstr.exe into the address bar.

Step 2: Kill the Winivstr.exe Process

1. Open Windows Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc key combination.
2. On the Process tab, locate winivstr.exe in the Image Name column.
3. Right-click the process name and then click End Process.

Step 3: Locate and remove winivstr.exe files

1. Go to Start, select Run, type cmd, and then press Enter.
2. In the Command Prompt window that opens, type cd fullPathToWinivstrFolder. Note: fullPathToWinivstrFolder is the path that you noted in step 1. 1.
3. Type del name_of_the_file to delete files in this folder.
4. To remove the entire folder, type  rmdir /S name_of_the_folder and press Enter .

You must keep in mind that winivstr.exe can stop Combofix, Superantispyware, Spybot S&D and other antivirus programs from functioning. Users can try a different anti-spyware program like StopZilla, MGTools, Avenger and Malwarebytes to remove winivstr.exe and associated files.

Given Below is another solution you can try to remove the wiunivstr.exe infection.

1. Reboot your PC in Safe Mode by pressing F8 at System startup and selecting the option to start your PC in Safe Mode.
2. Search for the following files and delete them:
   • braviax.exe
   • buritos.exe
   • winivstr.exe
   • karina.dat
   • delself.bat
   • *.tmp (c:/windows/temp) – all temp files from temp folder
   • ntos.exe
3. Search for the beep.sys file and replace with the file on the Windows installation CD. You can also copy this file off of a friend’s infection free computer.
4. Go to Start, select Run, type regedit and press Enter.
5. Look for all occurrences of the files listed above and delete them. Warning: Making incorrect changes in the registry may cause serious damage to your system. This is the reason why, you should back up the registry before proceeding with the changes listed above.
6. Remove all entries you find.
7. Run msconfig to open the System Configuration Utility and ensure that these files  are no longer featured on the Startup tab.

Malware files tend to resurrect themselves even after deletion. This is one reason why they are so difficult to remove. One more way to stop the malware files from running is to replace infected files with empty files of the same name. Spyware may check to see if the files it creates still exists and will not recreate them if they are still there.

Remember that prevention is much easier than finding a cure. Keep your antivirus and anti-spyware programs updated and always practice safe surfing. Doing so can help keep your system infection free and protect your personal information. It is also a good practice to use a good registry tool, such as RegGenie to perform regular registry clean up. This helps in getting rid of any malicious entries that might have infiltrated the registry database.