Vista AntiVirus 2008?

Question

I have my parents computer which has been acting really slowly, now when you open up a browser, it opens an internet explorer box that says

"Your computer has a virus blah, the download Vista Antivirus 2008 to remove the program""ok""cancel"

when you click cancel it opens up the programs pop up which pretends it scans for infected files.

i looked online and found out all of the files assosiated with the Vista Antivirus 2008 but none of the files are on the computer. that means the actually program is not installed.

next i tried installing and running firefox to see if the pop up was only initiated by IE but after i installed firefox, the process firefox.exe would start but the automatically end.....

any suggestions?

Answer 1

Download and scan Use Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/malware-...

Answer 2

Download an run the the following software, delete what ever they find should leave your PC free of Vista AntiVirus 2008:

SmitfraudFix: http://siri.geekstogo.com/SmitfraudFix.e... (specifically designed to remove Vista AntiVirus 2008)

Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

SuperAntispyware: http://www.download.com/SUPERAntiSpyware...

Avast Anti-Virus: http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Editi...

Once you have removed it keep Avast and download Comodo Pro firewall, then switch to Firefox 3 if you are browsing with IE this should stop it returning. (links on my profile)

Answer 3

your computer has a backdoor trojan, your registry is most likely corrupt which is why u keep getting pop-ups, the pop-up is the virus running on your computer, each time u click the pop-up when it pops up..it refreshes your ip address to an outside source...make sure u stay off the internet until this is resolved

Answer 4

Vista Antivirus 2008 is a new version of rogue anti-spyware program that simulates malware detections on your computer, generating false alerts to try to trick you into buying the “full version” of this dangerous program. Vista Antivirus 2008 is a new clone of well known XP Antivirus malware. Vista Antivirus 2008 can download and install other adware and spyware, without your consent. Vista Antivirus 2008 program can be very difficult to remove manually, and will try to recreate itself.

----use manual removal instructions