Remove XP Antivirus 2008 virus for real
OK. This is another one of those problem solving posts. The last time I had a virus on my computer is over 5 years ago. I’m always very cautious about what to click and install and what’s inside those torrents. I always either ran Kaspersky AV or AVG Free.
Now I needed to solve a little problem with my girlfriends computer. Her laptop was infected by the so called XP Antivirus 2008 malware/virus and it was a real pain in the ass to remove!
It also was a real pain to find a proper solution to remove the virus and hijacking software, almost every solution I found online seemed not to be working and after every reboot her antivirus software found new threats.
The Antivirus 2008 XP Virus works as follows;
- it replaces your desktop background with an image that your computer is infected
- it replaces your screensaver
- it disables the possibilities to change your background/screensaver etc.
- it gives you popups / warnings that your computer is infected and that you can buy the software to clean your computer
- you need to enter your creditcard information and credentials to continue, and of course, this is where you get scammed.
- Also, her browser was hijacked, it only affected IE/Chrome and not Mozilla Firefox, although a lot of webpages (hotmail f.e. ) were crippled.
I was able to remove the virus and all side effects using AVG Free and Spybot Search & Destroy.
Still the browser hijack remained! and in the background there were some processes running, the browser was still hijacked and search engine results were redirected to really ugly and non useful affiliate websites.
I tried everything from safeboot, manually removing strange files, while looking at network traffic using the commandline command ‘netstat -B’ to determine which programs were issuing internet requests. Even SmitFraudFix, which was set to solve this problem, wasn’t able to fix it!
A better Google search led me to this Yahoo Answers thread where the same question was raised and it provided the ONLY workable solution using the Malware Bytes Anti-Malware software. This software package really solved the problem and I can recommend it to all of you being infected by this hijacking and malware software XP Antivirus 2008.
did you try a remover prgm like Super-Antispyware?
This prgm is so strong that i was able to remove 63 viruses in only
one pass….even thoses that were in the explorer task bar…
that malware that you’re talking about,i’ve got it 3 times up until now, and i got rid of it every time…..
i’m 51 years old,experiencing all kind of things on this computer
for 6 years now,and i’ve learned how to fix a comp….in every ways possible…so i never go to any store ( were you get riped off),and i can send you the prgm if you need it (craked ) at no cost….send a reply and i’ll help you…see ya!
@marc
I used the program described above and it worked for me! Didn’t cost me a dime and no need to crack it.
Spybot works too, fyi
Get the best antivirus, get linux. Seriously.
You might want to consider Linux Mint or Ubuntu?
@tammy
I’m already running linux. My girlfriend, is not, but I’m not in the position to tell her what to run on her laptop
@zero-kill
I ran Spybot several times, did not fix the problem. Might be a newer version of the malware.
That malware is some nasty stuff my sister got it on her pc and somehow it jumped the firewall on my router and i had it next day
Combofix works well for it too.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix
hi Matazar,
thanks for commenting!
I tried combofix, however it didn’t seem to work
SmitFraudFix was said to solve the problem as well but it didn’t
I run support for a university and had this show up on a few machines. Each time it was packaged differently, different pictures and name. Malware Bytes worked after 3 hours of my time with spybot and adaware couldn’t fix the issue.
Ok, I do this for a job, and have fixed many computers recently with this exact virus. This is the solution:
Boot into safemode
Use HijackThis – check, and fix (remove) everything that starts up except your antivirus, trackpad software, sidebar in vista, aim…things you know you want
Use smitfraudfix to reset all your security settings.
The virus files will still be there, and can be removed with avast boot scan, but otherwise you will never even know, you will be virus free. Total time to fix: 10 minutes.
Has anyone tried to run a scan from a hirens CD? that occasionally works.
Unhackme Trial (be careful or computer won’t boot anymore) if you got the root kit that sometimes comes with this. Combofix and Spybot S&D will cleanup the rest.
I would recommend Eset’s NOD32 to remove anything else and prevent future infection. It’s not free, but it works. I’ve probably removed this virus 20 or 30 times in the last 2 months and other then the first infection have not seen an infected computer with a current NOD32 installation.
yeah, I had this infect my computer and it was just a pain to remove, so I went and reinstalled Windows on another hdd, but now I know what to do if it happens to anyone else, thanks
No wonder your antivirus didn’t clean everything up. AVG is a dated piece of software at this point. I recommend using Avira Antivir from now on, since it has a much high virus detection rating.
I have fixed this on several computers by simply using the windows system restore in accessories then system tools. Works every time!
Thanks for all the comments, anyone having this virus and reading this thread should now be able to remove this one. a lot of solutions provided!
Use GNU/Linux will fix all problems…. Try Ubuntu.