XP Anti-spyware 2011 has shut down my PC

[Rusty Heap]

Joys of Microsoft.

On a standard Microsoft auto generated update, they pushed XP Anti-spyware 2011 onto a old backup travel laptop of mine that I use only 1-2 times a year. Of course it does a scan and says I have 30 virus's and trojans lurking in the back ground.

OF COURSE now I can't even open a web browser without it saying "will not connect to the internet" as your PC is at risk and blah blah blah.

Also, to pay for and register the $59 subscription to XP anti-virus, you have to get a registration number, yet I can't get out on the web on that PC.......crap, stuck and stucker.

So, anyone know a way around XP anti-spyware 2011 as I can't disable it, nor can I open a web window to register it for a clean sweep and fix it all. Anyone got a registration number I can use to unlock this trap?

if you don't want to reply, you can PM me the answer or registration number for the software.

THANKS.

[slodave]

It's not a MS product. It's malware.

Here's a link to help get you started..

Remove Antivirus AntiSpyware 2011 (Uninstall Guide)

[azasadny]

Yep, what Dave said! That's malware, not a Microsoft product. If you read the fake announcements and screens, you'll see lots of misspellings and "Russian-English". I keep Microsoft Security Essentials that you can download from Microsoft Corporation: Software, Smartphones, Online, Games, Cloud Computing, IT Business Technology, Downloads (free) on the PC's I work on to help prevent virii, trojan horses and other random malware. Lots of bad stuff out there!

[WolfeMacleod]

Third that. I got hit twice by "XP Anti-Spyware" in like..two weeks. Then my roomate got hit a few weeks after that.
Took out a lot of stuff.

It's really, reallllyy nasty.

[Joe Bob]

Something has been screwing a few other virus software as well. Mine had to turned back on and needed a prompt. Heard from a few others they had the same issues....

It's a probe from the black helicopter crowd.

[lm6y]

Got hammered with this one yesterday. The sad thing is, I KNEW about the threat! I was surfing, and The "Microsoft" screen popped up, and I clicked on it. As I was clicking on it, I was thinking that I had the Microsoft stuff disabled...... No more surfing while waiting on my coffee to brew. I didn't even try to fix it. Booted from another hard drive, saved the stuff I needed, and did a clean install of XP Pro.

[azasadny]

You need to reboot the PC as soon as you see the screen popup, closing the browser usually doesn't work as the program brings the screen to the forefront and will not (usually) allow you to select another screen (like the browser). You can try Task Manager and shutting down the browser, but that usually doesn't work.

Once I clean the malware, I install Microsoft Security Essentials from the Microsoft website (it's free) and I keep it updated and I make sure that there aren't multiple anti-virus programs running on the PC. I then install Secunia PSI, which helps you keep all programs and components up-to-date on your PC, not just the Microsoft applications.

I've seen this malware sneak by most current A/V software, but Microsoft Security Essentials does a pretty good job of stopping it. I stopped using Internet Explorer because I believed it was less secure than FireFox or Chrome, but all browsers are susceptible to malware. I keep all Windows components and applications up-to-date on my PC's, but the malware can still hit.

If you think (as I used to) that you can avoid malware by simply avoiding "bad" websites, then you're wrong because the McAfee website was unknowingly serving up malware not too long ago and people's PC's were getting infected by simply visiting the website.

I hope this helps...

[Schrup]

I've had pretty good luck using the task manager to shut IE down as soon as I get a prompt. After I stop IE, I run Ccleaner & then a M$ security essentials. If the prompt box was clicked (infecting the PC), I've had to restart in safe mode, restore to a week earlier, AV scan, reboot, & then another AV scan in regular mode. The key is to shut down IE as soon as you notice something odd before you click any prompts.

[azasadny]

Paul,
Yep! The earlier you catch malware and clean it up, the better. I've had to take care of a few that were very nasty and required a reinstall of Windows. A new version on malware is out there now that encrypts your entire hard drive, then extorts $ from you to get the key to decrypt it. If you don't pay, you don't get the key and you cannot get your data back.... Very ugly!

[island911]

did some guy go hunt down and kill one of those virus writers once? ....or is that just some feel-good urban legend?

[Schrup]

Originally Posted by azasadny

I've seen this malware sneak by most current A/V software, but Microsoft Security Essentials does a pretty good job of stopping it.

Yes Art, MSE is fantastic. I had a friend call last week with the typical symptoms of a trojan & I was going to help him the next day. When I called back, he said MSE had fixed the problem & that everything was running fine again.

[azasadny]

Paul,
I've had excellent experience with it also. The fact that it's free is cool and it doesn't slow a PC down like some of the other craptastic A/V software out there. Secunia PSI is also excellent to keep everything up-to-date...

If I could get my hands on the people who write and distribute this stuff....Well, let's just say that I would be posting it in a "spoons" thread!

[kach22i]

My computer got hit by this last week. Rushed my laptop over to my computer guys right away. Lost no data but it cost me $80 for their time.

[azasadny]

George,
I would have fixed it for you, no charge! Put Microsoft Security Essentials and Secunia PSI on it to prevent it from happening again, or it certainly will.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by azasadny

George,
I would have fixed it for you, no charge! Put Microsoft Security Essentials and Secunia PSI on it to prevent it from happening again, or it certainly will.

I will.

Thanks.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by azasadny

George,
I would have fixed it for you, no charge! Put Microsoft Security Essentials and Secunia PSI on it to prevent it from happening again, or it certainly will.

Secunia PSI was a disaster on my computer. It would not run and my computer shut down twice with blue screens to protect it's self from it. I went to the forum and read a few posts, seems to happen often enough. If I did not have CCleaner I'm not sure I could have even uninstalled it.

Microsoft Security Essentials warns not to run it with anything else. No Spybot and no AVG (or Trend-Micro) is a darning way to run. Daring for me because I've never heard of Microsoft Security Essentials before.

I'm not sure what to do now.

[azasadny]

George,
Don't know what happened with Secunia, as I've never seen that before. Microsoft Security Essentials replaces the anti-spyware, A/V, anti-malware stuff you mentioned, it does all of that. That's all I've used for almost 2 years and it works well and protects the PC better than the freeware stuff from the web...

[kach22i]

I think I'm going to break down and buy something.

AVG or Trend-Micro..................both about the same?

[kach22i]

FYI: Firefox has a hole in it which allows a redirectory malware known as Move Networks to place a bogus add-on called XULRunner 1.9.1, people have also reported that the other add-ons you may find (Java console) are also bad news.

There are several threads at support.mozilla.com which explain how to go into your registry and remove it. Taking steps to back things up such as your bookmarks. I did it, but I also messed up a registry eight years ago so I know how dicey it can be to a newbe.

In addition; Adobe reader and perhaps Flash Player can have bogus updates pop up. I did not see a fix for this, so I uninstalled them and did a reinstall just to be safe.

I'm using Google Chrome because Firefox is still vulnerable from what I've read.

Happy surfing.

[azasadny]

I'm using Chrome but I can't figure out how to "email this webpage" to people, which is frustrating. I've never seen malware get past Microsoft Security Essentials yet, but I'm sure there are some out there. FireFox 4 and IE 9 both hang on my PC, so I don't use them much at all any more...