Computer help forum: WORRIED! XP ANTIVIRUS ONLINE SCANNER FLASHED ON MY SCREEN

Sounds like a popup either designed to take you to a website that will try to sell you something OR talk you into downloading some real virus/spyware filled software.

hmm yeh if its not that then its likely just a popup trying to convince you to download it. its a trojan so dont =P

you can turn on popup control with firefox.

cant hurt to try grifs advice though =)

spoon

I followed all of the instructions - athe popup has continued to occur throughout the process. Now I have registered with Panda but am getting an error message "Sorry, updating is incomplete due to an error. Please try again." and can't get past it. Any suggestions?

Like others, I signed onto this forum to express my gratitude for your help. I tried to manually delete the virus, but the more files I deleted the more problems occurred. I downloaded the malware software, update and copied it onto a disk and download it to the infected computer. WOW!!! in just minutes the trojan was gone. Grif, you are truly a lifesaver. I thought I had to wipe the OS clean and loose some files. I was so elated that I contacted my friends and told them about this site. Thanks Again..... I will continue to use it for future problems.

Deb

thanks a lot for ur posting man, i followed the steps the way u mentioned and i sucessfully removed the hell out of my laptop. i was using XP Proffecsional SP 3. i had Trend Micro Anti Spyware, it detected XP antivirus, but could able to fix only cookies not eveything. then i was looking for some help online. i found ur post and gave it a shot. it worked well and am back. i lost whole my weekend in fixing this. and could not sleep. do you suggest me to buy this product malawarebytes!!
Great post. thanks alot once again.

I was in a different forum about losing my wallpaper and my desktop tabs. they suggested that i check this forum out for help too.

I downloaded Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware with no problems. i ran a quick search,it showed i had 38 checked quarantined boxed for removal.i clicked remove and it said i needed to restart my computer. when my computer rebooted i was holding my breath worried it might not work. well so far so good i have my screen back and when i rebooted my computer it stayed normal. No "blue virus screen of death", and i didn't lose my desktop tabs. I think the key thing is that i didn't try to remove anything manual first. i just ran the program and let it do its thing.
thank you so much for all your help, i am and will always be internally great full.
Britt

Hi, I managed to get infected by the dreaded Antivirus XP 2008 and have been trying to get rid of it but I'm a bit clueless when it comes to the technical side of computers and want to check if it's totally gone. First I downloaded Spybot search and destroy as recommended by a friend - this seemed to find a number of infected files which I subsequently deleted but it didn't fix the problem. The virus was clearly still on my computer and suspicious-looking pop-ups kept appearing (such as a bogus-looking McAfee Virus warning telling me to click on a link if I didn't trust the program that was trying to install - the way I believe I first got infected with the virus because I didn't realise it was a fake McAfee virus window). I then found the forums on CNET and downloaded Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware which found roughly 40 infected files. I clicked on the link to remove all the infected files which it did, apart from a couple which it said it couldn't remove and so I followed Grif's instructions to restart my computer and when I did so it looks like they've all been removed. The pop-ups have disappeared and things look much better. However, my desktop is still blue but the yellow box stating my computer might be infected has disappeared, as has the Antivirus XP 2008 icon in the bottom toolbar next to the start-up menu. So far, all looks good. However, the shortcuts to the Antivirus XP 2008 are still appearing in my start-up menu, although it looks like they're just the shortcuts remaining for the program that now no longer exists.

How can I be sure I've got rid of the whole virus? Also, does the fact that my desktop is still blue mean my computer is still infected, or is that something I have to manually change again to set it to my original wallpaper? Is there anything else I should do? (e.g. run any other anti-spyware programs in case they pick up something which this one didn't?)

Sorry if these questions have been asked before but there are so many posts all saying different things so I wanted to post my own question specific to my computer and what I've done so far. Thanks for any help, gratefully appreciated!!!

P.S. My computer is a Samsung V25 laptop and I have Windows XP

I am currently unable to access the necessary web sites (malawarebytes etc.) in order to fight this virus (xp 2008).Everytime I try to access a website my browser (firefox) comes back with the message "unable to connect".Therefore I'm unable to download the programs needed to scan and desroy this bugger.Is there a way to get access to these programs using another browser so I don't get redirected as I do when I tried via google?HELP

I have followed your instructions listed and it got rid of the small icon in the corner and thankfully is not popping up anymore, but when I go to control panel/ add/remove programs it is still listed there. When I try and remove it gives me an error that says uninstall has encountered a problem and needs to close. then it gives me a choice whether i want to send an error report or not. is there any way to remove this? i want to make sure it is completely gone. thanks.

like every one else here i have got the same antivirus xp 2008 pop up.

Grif you seem to be the man so please help me. i have read some of the feeds. i have AVG and SPYBOT which have both worked fine but can not detect this current virus. i have downloaded rogueremover it found 2 problems, i deleted them yet i still have this dam virus. i then run a scan called SpyHunter, it found what seemed like all my problems. when i went to fix then it directed me to a page asking me to pay and so did the MajorGeek website.

so please help me further to cure this. ps i am no computir boff, all self taught im afraid. thanx fmsam.

i asked sir because while reading it all sounds gobble de **** to me.

my pc will not let me delete the antivirus virus.

i could not find a link for the MBAM on major geek link you gave me.

I'm so glad that there are forums like this with very well informed members who can help. With all of the info posted here, it looks like I was finally able to get rid of this nasty thing. Thanks so much to Grif and everyone else!

Unfortunately, you've given us no information about your computer.. Which operating system? And if Windows XP, which service pack, and which version..HOME or PRO?

In the meantime, please start by downloading the Fixswen.inf file below to your desktop and once it's there, RIGHT click on the file, choose "Install" from the little menu... (It may look like it does nothing but it should fix some of your issues.)

(RIGHT click on the link below, choose "save Target As", then direct the file to your desktop.)
http://download.nai.com/products/mcafee-avert/Fixswen.inf

Next, there are some folks that are unable to actually run/install Malwarebytes because the malware is blocking it.. Instead, rename the Malwarebytes installer file to something else, like GoGetUm.exe and see if installs correctly.

Hope this helps.

Grif

I am about to lose my mind. I feel like I've tried several permutations of several routes described to get rid of this virus and haven't been able to. I've downloaded SmitFraudFix, SuperAntiSpyWare, and Malwarebytes. SuperAntiSpyWare won't even run, andMalwarebytes always says it's unable to delete all the files. When I look at the Notepad log, it says it will delete them on reboot but if it does, they're back as soon as I open any browser (I have 3 browsers I've tried). I've run them when the computer started up regularly and in safe mode. I've done regedit to delete files I was told to delete. I've dragged hidden files that wouldn't let me delete them to the desktop as advised elsewhere and still couldn't delete some. I've gone to the start menu and deselected a file (beginning with lphc. . .) but it will be in the startup menu again upon reboot. I tried to delete the program but it generally doesn't let me. If I End Process for some suspicious processes running, I can finally see the programs (otherwise it shows a blank screen in add/remove programs) but either it does not allow me to see the program or won't let me delete it. I tried to do a system restore and there are no restore points other than today so I can't take it back to an earlier date. That file ati2evxx.exe keeps coming back along with several others that begin with lphc35, rhc75, and blphc and so forth.

I'm at a loss now. This is not my computer but my mother's and the original OS discs and whatnot were lost/destroyed in recent flood damage. She thinks she is going to have to just toss this computer. Is there anything she can do before that?

Thanks.