AntiVirus 2008 is a an extortion scam. Never give in to them! The Web site linked below has instructions on manually removing the counterfeit spyware virus. They also plug a commercial product, but the manual instructions do work.

Here is a link that might be useful: AntiVirus 2008 Removal

you need to install some good antispyware programs on your pc to keep those things away. I suggest the free superantispyware , you will want to download, install, hit update then run full scan and let it clean anything it finds, then you want to do the update and full scan about once a week. The other is sypwareblaster free. Download, install, update, then enable all protection so the shield turns green, do the update and enable once a week also.

SUPERAntiSpyware .com - AntiAdware, AntiSpyware, AntiMalware!
you want the free blue one

SpywareBlaster

run the superantispyware before you do anything else it should remove it.

this is another good program that you can use to get rid of that spyware.
www.malwarebytes.com.

you may also want to clear out your system restore points once you clean your system so that you do not have any infected restore points.

How does one clear out the system restore points? have never done that.
Gillian.

Gillian, just right click on your My Computer icon and left click on properties. Go to the System Restore tab and place a check next to Turn Off System Restore, click apply and OK. Don't forget to remove the check after you get the system cleaned up.

right you simply turn off the system restore then reboot the pc, that will clear them then go back to that same tab and uncheck it so that your system restore is back on as normal.

I downloaded the Superantispyware (took about an hour) and Antivirus 2008 is gone, gone, blessedly GONE.

Thank you for your help!

raven you are my hero *thud*
thank you sooooooooo much for the links. I about freaked this morning on this stupid Antivirus thing :(

well good for you! you did it you got rid of it.
Excellent news. Some of those can about drive you crazy trying to clean them. Luckily I have never ever had any infections but keeping good programs on board and updated is KEY. Spywareblaster will keep that kind of stuff from getting to you. And superantispyware scans will make sure you stay clean.
Glad to have helped.

These pop-ups were relentless. Of course I fell for it. Made me think I needed it.My computer is really screwed up. The "Advanced Antivirus 2008" window is frozen on my screen. I have no taskbar or start. I got here because I can click on recycle bin shortcut via Gardenweb. I can't download Superantispyware. Says something about talking to system administrator. I can't even do a system restore. I wish I found this site a few days ago. Please advise me what to do.
Thanks, Theresa

Have you tried a system restore in safe mode?

go to control-alt-delete to bring up your running processes, look to see if you have anything in there that sounds like it could be associated with that virus if so select it and then end task. IF you can get to add remove programs go there and look for it in your list there if you see anything there select it and remove it. IF using some of these options you can then get to download superantispyware and run it.

Trying to get in safe mode would be another option to do a system restore or with networking to try to get the superantispyware downloaded and installed. OR do you have another pc you could download the superantispyware exe to then burn it to a cd and use that to put it on your infected pc?

Thanks! I will try above suggestions.

Theresa

Got the frozen screen off of computer using task manager. When I try to install Superantispyware this window pops up:( Windows Installer- The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running Windows in safe mode, or if Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance.)
I am not running in safe mode that I know of. Forget how to.What should I do now.

Theresa

Bill Castner has created a little program that fixes some of the changes that these infections cause you can look at that too.

Download to your Desktop FixPolicies.exe, a self-extracting ZIP archive from here:
http://downloads.malwareremoval.com/Bil ... licies.exe
* Double-click FixPolicies.exe.
* Click the "Install" button on the bottom toolbar of the box that will open.
* The program will create a new Folder called FixPolicies.
* Double-click to Open the new Folder, and then double-click the file within: Fix_Policies.cmd.
* A black box will briefly appear and then close. This will enable your Control Panel and stop the Administrative warnings, at least until the malware infection resets the registry policy keys again. You can run this as many times as you like. A permanent fix requires removing the infection.

http://downloads.malwareremoval.com/Bil ... licies.exe

that might fix your issue with it not allowing you to gain access.