RAV Antivirus

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RAV Antivirus has been a topic of discussion in various tech communities, and we’ve delved deep into user experiences to understand why it’s often labeled as a potentially unwanted program (PUP). Let’s explore what RAV Antivirus really is, the challenges users face, and how to effectively remove it.

What is RAV Antivirus?

RAV Antivirus is legitimate security software developed by ReasonLabs, but it has drawn criticism for its distribution methods, tricky uninstallation process, and system impact. Users have reported that it hogs system resources, leading to a decrease in computer performance. Additionally, we found that the software often installs without clear consent along with other software applications, especially free tools downloaded from the internet, and modifies system settings which complicates its removal. These factors contribute to its classification as a PUP and have led many to seek ways to remove it from their systems.

Is RAV Antivirus Safe?

From a technical standpoint, RAV Antivirus is designed to provide protection against malware, viruses, and other online threats, therefore, the program is not classifies as malware and cannot damage the computer in the same way a computer virus can. However, its presence on the system may have some potentially unwanted effects. For instance, we came across complaints regarding this application that are related to its high impact on the CPU.

After having RAV Antivirus installed for nearly a year and mostly ignoring it, a user on Reddit shared that they began noticing an increased frequency of the fan running even when not engaged in gaming, and while the temperature remained within acceptable limits, it was higher than usual. This prompted the user to investigate further and discover that their CPU was consistently overclocked during idle periods. Upon examining the task manager, they identified that RAV Antivirus was consuming around 19% of the CPU, contributing to the overclocking issue.

Such behaviour can lead to slower computer performance, which is particularly problematic for users with older or less powerful hardware. Besides, the heavy resource usage can detract from the overall user experience and may counterbalance the security benefits offered by the software.

RAV Antivirus uninstall

The RAV Antivirus uninstall process can be a headache because users have found that using the software’s built-in uninstaller doesn’t completely remove it, leaving behind files and altered system configurations. Processes like rsenginesvc, which are associated with RAV Antivirus, also need to be stopped and their files deleted for a complete cleanup. Therefore, people often turn to specialized tools or detailed manuals to ensure the app is entirely gone.

SUMMARY:

How to uninstall RAV Antivirus

To uninstall RAV antivirus, you must first try to remove the app from your Control Panel and then find and eliminate any remaining data, settings, and Registry entries.

1. Open Control Panel > Uninstall a Program, and uninstall RAV antivirus from there.
2. Stop any RAV antivirus processes in the Task Manager.
3. Delete any RAV antivirus Hosts file IPs, Startup items, and scheduled tasks.
4. To fully uninstall RAV antivirus from your PC, remember to also clean the Registry.

We strongly recommend first reading the more detailed instructions for those four steps that we’ve prepared before you attempt to delete the unwanted program.

Detailed removal instructions for RAV Antivirus

Step 1

It’s best if you disconnect from the Internet the computer you are trying to clean – oftentimes potentially unwanted programs use the system’s Internet connection to establish communication with their creator’s servers and restore any of their data that the user may manage to delete. This is not absolutely necessary to do, but it may help with the removal.

Step 2

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Open the Start Menu and type Uninstall a Program or Programs and Features and open the first thing that shows up in the results. Then try to find RAV Antivirus in the list of programs that opens, right-click it, and select the Uninstall option to evoke the uninstallation manager. Confirm that you want to uninstall the program and if the uninstaller asks you whether you’d like to keep anything from that program (such as personalized settings) on your computer, refuse the offer, and finish the uninstallation.

Also, we recommend exploring the entire list of programs and checking it for other questionable apps, especially ones installed near the date when RAV Antivirus got installed (you can sort the list of programs by installation date). If you notice anything that you don’t recognize and think is suspicious or unwanted, you should probably uninstall it too.

Step 3

Access the Task Manager by either typing task manager in the Start Menu and clicking the first result, or by simply pressing together Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Make sure that you are at the Processes tab and in it look for a process named RAV Antivirus, RAV, Reliable Antivirus, or anything similar. If you notice such a process, right-click it and go to its File Location Folder. Then right-click the process again, select End Process, switch to the Location folder that you’ve just opened, and delete everything in it, after which delete the folder itself. If one or more of the files refuses to be deleted, leave it be for now, and come back later, after you’ve finished with the rest of the guide to try to delete it once more.

Also, if you notice any other questionable processes that use excessive amounts of system resources (CPU, RAM memory), Google their names to see what information comes up. Additionally, go to their location folders and scan their files with the following professional scanner that you can use for free on our site.

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If you find information online that comes from a reputable source and confirms that the process might be rogue and/or if any of the files of that process are flagged as malicious by our scanner, end that process and erase its folder as you did with the RAV Antivirus process.

Step 4

Get your system into Safe Mode – this will block any processes that may interrupt the removal process during the next steps.

Step 4

“Unhide” the hidden files and folders on your computer by typing Folder Options in the Start Menu, opening the first result, clicking the View section, and checking the Show hidden files, folders, and drives option (if it’s currently unchecked). Make sure to click OK after that to save the changes.

Next, type “%AppData%” in the Start Menu, hit Enter, and sort the files in the newly-opened folder by order of their creation date. Now scan with our free scanner everything created since RAV Antivirus entered your system, and delete anything that it detects as malware. Also, if you see any files named RAV Antivirus or anything similar to this, delete them without the need to scan them.

Do the same thing with these other three folders:

• %LocalAppData%
• %ProgramData%
• %WinDir%

Finally, go to the %Temp% folder and simply delete all files that are in it. Since there would likely be a very big number of files in this folder, press Ctrl + A to quickly select all of them and then press Del to delete them.

Step 5

Copy this line “%windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts”, place it in the Start Menu, right-click the file that appears in the results, and select Run as Administrator. If you are required to pick a program with which to open this file, click on Notepad. When the file opens, scroll down in the newly-opened text file, see what’s written right below the second “Localhost” line – if anything is there, especially any strange-looking IP addresses, copy that text and share it with us in the comments – we will soon get back to you, informing you whether those IPs or other entries are from RAV Antivirus and whether you need to delete them.

Next, type Task Scheduler in the Start Menu, hit Enter/open the first result, then click on Task Scheduler Library in the upper-right corner, and see if there are any RAV Antivirus tasks shown in the central panel, where all the scheduled tasks are listed. If you see RAV Antivirus tasks there or any other tasks from unfamiliar or unwanted software, right-click them and select Delete.

After that, if you are using Windows 10, start the Task Manager again, go to the Startup section, look for RAV Antivirus items or other items you are not familiar with, and uncheck any such tasks, after which click OK so that the changes would be saved. 

To get to the list of Startup items If you are using Windows 7, type msconfig in the Start Menu, hit Enter, and in the window that opens, click the Startup section.

Step 6

Once more, go to the Start Menu, and this time type regedit.exe and open the app that gets shown. Windows will probably require your Admin approval to open the app, so click on Yes if this happens.

Next, when the Registry Editor app appears, open the Edit menu, and click the Find option. Type RAV Antivirus in the search bar, and click Find Next to see if there are any related items in the Registry. If anything is found, delete it and search again. Keep searching and deleting until all related items have been removed. Next, perform searches for Reliable Antivirus and RAV and delete what items get found for those searches.

Finally, go to these three locations by using the panel to the left and explore the keys (subfolders) shown under them. If any of the keys have strange names that look like a long string of randomized letters and/or numbers (for example, something like “329ru983rt98398ut9uej0d93jf093ur2jd093”), tell us about those keys down in the comments. Once we take a look at your comment, we will let you know if the suspicious item(s) must be erased.

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory. 
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main

If you are still unable to delete RAV Antivirus

If despite all your efforts, the RAV Antivirus PUP is still on your computer, we recommend using the professional removal tool posted in the guide in order to find and erase everything related to this PUP from your computer. The recommended tool specializes in finding and taking care of potentially unwanted software that the majority of antivirus programs won’t flag as malware, and this makes it perfect for the job of eliminating RAV Antivirus. That said, this tool is also proficient at dealing with actual malware threats, including Trojans and Spyware, so it can also keep your system safe and secure in the future.