I would suggest you are already infected and the bad guys are stopping you from running your safety programs. Is your firewall running or is that disabled too?

How did this message appear, during start up or just popped up without warnings of any kind? Do you know which program generated it, can you repeat this and give us the exact error message?

Start your computer in Safe Mode - tap the F8 button as the computer starts up. Then try running Spybot Search & Destroy from there.

Try right clicking Start, click All Programs click the plus sign beside C:\ in the left side then click the plus sign beside Program Files. Now in the list that drops down underneath this see if you can spot programs you never installed. A tough task I realise But you just might see something unusual.

my firewall disables also.
the message appeared while is was surfing the internet , (I think it was a MN state web site, a porn thing appeared , then the message saying my pc was infected)
I don't see that error message again , now .
I tried the safe mode and couldn't run spybot.
Ichecked all the programs on C , but there are so many I don't know what is what or unusual.

Seems you have more than a simple virus on your computer.

See if you can get either of these two sites to run their online free scan. You will need to use Internet Explorer and not Firefox. both will ask permission to install a small activeX program - this is needed to run the test.

Trend Micro's Housecall
BitDefender

Note that on BitDefender click on the red sign that says "I agree" not the download button

braviax.exe showed up earlier, I put it in the recycle bin then dumped the recylce bin.
I just rebooted , now the popup appears, "windows has dectected spyware, recomends special antispyware tools to protect and prevent data loss, windows will now download,click here to protect computer form spyware"
red circle with white X button your computer is infected with spyware

You never clicked to install what was offered I hope?

OK so perhaps a lot depends on how computer savvy you are and how much work you might want to do to clear this up. Definitely start considering a back up of all your personal stuff on the computer in case you need to wipe the drive and start squeaky clean.

bravia.exe is nasty, you can remove it but it simply rebuilds on rebooting so you need to get past that. Did you try either of those online scans I listed in the previous post?

I downloaded cyberdefender, it found spyware but would not remove till I subscribed , so I uninstalled the program.
also get a message when I tried to run or open spybot & avg "a device attached to the system is not functioning"
I am not computer savvy at all!!! I've never backup anything, thought windows did that automatically!
I did not try the Trend or Bit defender yet .

Cyberdefender is a $40 program. There are ample, good free programs out there. You have Spybot Search & Destroy which is a great program and very popular. You have tried to download SUPERAntispyware which seems equally as good.

I assume when you mention AVG that is the anti virus program. It should update automatically and by default run a full scan at 8 a.m. each morning assuming your computer is running then. How often do you look for updates to Spybot S&D and how often do you run a scan with it?

Let us know what happens when you run TrendMicro or BitDefender - personally I would run both one after the other. Not necessary perhaps but once I find a problem I need to know for sure it has been removed. Each will take perhaps an hour, longer if you have a slower computer. Stick around for the first few minutes to be sure is is running.

BRAVIAX.EXE has been seen to perform the following behavior(s):

The Process is packed and/or encrypted using a software packing process Changes the Internet Explorer Search Page Disables the Notification Baloon for the Windows Security Center Disabling the Windows Built in Firewall This Process Creates Other Processes On Disk This Process Deletes Other Processes From Disk Can communicate with other computer systems using HTTP protocols Executes a Process Registers a Dynamic Link Library File Creation and Registration of a Browser Helper Object in Internet Explorer Changes the Internet Explorer Home Page Settings Modifies Windows Initialization And System Settings Used On Start up

BRAVIAX.EXE has been the subject of the following behavior(s):

Added as a Registry auto start to load Program on Boot up Created as a process on disk Executed as a Process Writes to another Process's Virtual Memory (Process Hijacking)

This is a trojan you will need special tools to remove it under the supervision of an expert.

Please go to a Malware removal forum and post a Hijackthislog.

Let us know if you need a link to a forum...

Here is a link for a Malware removal forum, you will need to register and then follow the forum instructions for posting a Hijackthis log and some will assist you

Here is a link that might be useful: Malware removal Forum

Iclicked the malware removal link above and followed , it downloaded shopzilla, scanned and found 88 items , I needed to register to remove items but it was not a free site, ask for credit card. was that the correct site? I didn't see anything about "Hijackthis log".
now I have a shopzilla toolbar on the top of my IE screen.

Don't give your credit card. I would take it in to a computer repair shop.

Sounds very nasty!

Good luck,
Jane

Ess remove that program. Zep was wanting you to go to that forum and become a member. Then he wants you to download HiJackThis, install and run the program then post the log in the security area there. Then someone with knowledge will interpret what you have and what needs to be removed so you are clean once again.

I have provided a download link below for HiJackThis, the latest version is 2.0.2 so if you happen to have the older version 1.99 then remove that and install the new version.

Come back here if in doubt.

Here is a link that might be useful: Download HiJackThis program

or just open msconfig and uncheck that buggy dang file name.

From a quick scanning of several articles, this appears to be quite a severe critter when contracted. It apparently first appeared February 18, 2008.

What I find interesting is that as of yesterday there was no search results at the Symantec, AVG, and Safer-Networking (Spybot). A Google search of those entities in conjunction with braviax produced nothing concrete.

All I found was a "free" product called Adware Away which claims to remove it. Their horn tooting is "after other malware software has failed they are the ones to try".

Prior to yeaterday I had never heard of them.

DA

This "reflash" article below appeared in my e-mail this morning. It basically relates to your concern or should I say how you contracted it. Good reading for all, particular anyone new to surfing the Internet.

DA

Here is a link that might be useful: Avoid Suspicious Websites

Right I wanted you to join the site & become a member so you can post there - that is a nasty Trojan you have and it has probably added some other goodies, as mikie said you could remove it through msconfig or search for BRAVIAX.EXE and remove it, but there maybe more infected files not even being detected and that is why you should to go the site, The first thing you will run there is (sdfix) then combofix, under supervision, the logs that these programs produce may show other infections as well and guide the helper to assist you, you may well have 50 to 60 infected files now that only these scans will show.... Don't fool around with this either follow my instructions or reinstall the operating system, you personal data could be at risk...........

This is a VERY nasty piece of malware. You CANNOT get rid of Braviax by simply deleting both files with that name in c:\windows and c:\windows\system32, or by unmarking it in MSCFG . On the next reboot or start, they will be back, along with everything else in the payload the nasty delivered. Braviax (which actually may have different names)is just part of the pack.

One of my employees carelessly clicked on a link that came up in Google when she was searching for a church! The malware unpacked its payload. It scooted past our two active antivirus programs and firewall. Then it sent up a barrage of popups. Many were phony virus alerts; a click would have launched or downloaded more bad stuff. But some alerts also were coming from AVG, McAfee, and Windows. I quickly fired up AVG, it found an infection right away, but before the scan could complete, the virus disabled AVG. AVG and McAfee won't run now, not even in Safe Mode. The nasty also shut down our cable access to the Internet, hijacking our connection -- and started sending out ITS stuff from OUR PC.

What a mess. It's going to take an expert to clean it out, damaged files will need to be reinstalled, and it may be that the best solution will be FORMAT C: and reinstall XP from scratch. The fact that we don't have a dedicated removal tool from any of the big antivirus publishers yet suggests how well the bad guys did their nasty work.

Send Bill Gates back to the drawing board, with a stop in the woodshed along the way.

ed p.

Hey,
I understand your problem, I purchased 'Adware Alert' antispyware from www.adwarealert.com, After installing they can not run on to my PC and block Firefox too, Its fake, and I removed it from my system..

Well, you should removed or re-installed your anti-spyware

Thanks!!

Hi!
While doing a google search to help correct my computer woes I came across this thread. It looks like my computer had the same thing. None of the anti-spyware programs I have tried were able to open. I was just wondering if you found anything that worked yet? I'm hoping that what works/worked for you will also fix my computer! Thanks in advance!

You need the guidance of a malware expert to remove this from you system if you would like a link to a forum that offers this service let us know.. Also is this what you are speaking of BRAVIAX.EXE?

thanks for all your help here.
nothing was working for me so I took pc back to store. they worked on it ,yes it was Braviax and who knows what else!
They ended up wiping out the system and reinstalling.
Also he sort of suggested that "free" anti virus programs are worth what you pay for them, and installed a new program "CA"anti!!!

Smart thing to do, and you are exactly right "Who knows what else was running on the machine" I'll bet there was more then 1 infection....

Keep your anti virus up-dated, always use the most current Browser, keep all your software up-to Date...