My computer has gone mad! I have windows vista (compaq computer).. just for background. Well I went to bed one night then woke up and all of a sudden theres an icon on my desktop for antivirus 2009. i figured my computer updated and i got a new antivirus thing. wonderful. Well then every two seconds something pops up from this thing saying you have a VIRUS please click here.. well i click there and it says i have to buy it for $40 or w/e. WELL i dont want to buy it i have an antivirus.. i want to get rid of it but it wont go away!! Those stupid popups show up every five seconds and the other day it shut down my computer. WHY?! Can anyone help me? Can anyone tell me how to get rid of this?

It iws a scam download hijack this to remove it

compaq computer

There's your problem.

What you have is a full blown trojan/virus. About the only way to get rid of it is to wipe the hard drives and start from scratch.

And and DUMP Vista...it's total garbage! lol

i actually like vista...

anyway i was really hoping i wouldnt have to start from scratch... not that i know how to do that.. how do i do that?

There are viruses now that pretend to be an anti virus program and then want you to pay for it...sounds like that's what you have, so definitely don't buy it. Unfortunately I don't know how to help you, my mom was battling something like this on one of her friends computers and she couldn't find a solution, I think she had to end up reformatting it. Good luck :-/.

Just for future reference. Whenever windows or whatnot automatically updates, it will display a little bubble in your icon tray that says "windows has installed blah blah blah. click to see what was installed." You can also go to start--control panel-- windows update--view update history, to see what WINDOWS updated for you.

If you ever see some random icon on your desktop that you did not initiate downloading, delete it right away.

As for solutions for this: I'm sorry I have no idea. Have you tried running your real antivirus program? Good luck!

yes i have... its not working :(

Ugh, my poor Mom got attacked by one of those last year. And it kept telling her she had a virus and got scared enough to pay the money. She turned them in and eventually got her money back, but the only way to get rid of it was for my husband to wipe the computer out ENTIRELY. I'm sorry I don't have any easier fixes for it :(.

I am telling you hijack this..it will work

OMG, I got this effing virus. This is what happens when I let my husband get on my computer, I'm telling you. Anyway, download Malwarebytes Anti Malware. Actually, watch this vid. I used all these tools he has in the vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W1e5oR8PTw In the description section, he has a site with a bunch more instructions. This one took me a while to clean, but I did not have to wipe my hard drive. It can be done.

Also, please don't try to use hijack this unless you know what you're doing. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic58922.html You can really screw up your computer.

I guess I know what I am doing :)

You must. I know if I read the log I'd be totally confused. And chances are, if this person thought this was a real antivirus program then they should probably stay away from it, just like myself. ;)