You might consider doing a free online scan at Trend Micro's Housecall linked below and see what they find.

Here is a link that might be useful: Housecall free online scan

I have never heard of this- can you tell me more about it/them, please.

Housecall scans your computer for malware. You might also consider downloading and installing Superantispyware. Get the free one. Update it and do a full scan with it and let it remove anything it finds.

Yikes! I just looked at the site you gave me- Housecall Free. On the 'updated' page, there is a picture of a red shield with a white band going from upper left to lower right corners. The icon that is a virus(maybe), on my computer is just the OPPOSITE!! It is still a red shield, but the white band goes from upper right to lower left!! They must be trying to make people think it is from Housecalls! Housecalls did not find anything, but I still have the ;Internet Antivirus' icin, and sites still pop up about every half hour.

Whoa! You posted asking what Housecall was and then you posted exactly 20 minutes later saying Housecall did not find anything. The scan usually takes longer than that let alone setting it up.

Did you agree to allow Housecall to install the small program it needs to conduct a full scan of your computer? Then did it conduct a full scan of the computer?

What anti virus and anti malware programs are you running now? Are they up to date and have you ran a full scan with those and have you tried the excellent program Bob suggested above?

If you have AVG then the last update was today, Sept 2nd at 9.55 p.m. Eastern time. So if this is a virus it might be fair to say AVG will catch it, if not then maybe it is a Trojan and needs stronger medicine.

pretty sure you have the dreaded antivirus xp infection.DO NOT click on any of the pop ups and DO NOT pay them any thing or give them credit card info.

There are 3 programs you will need to run to get rid of this. It may take more but lets do this and see how it goes.
Go get the free version of superantispyware install it update it run full scan then let it clean anything it finds.
SUPERAntiSpyware

you will need to also get the free malwarebytes and use it.
Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to your desktop.

* Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
* At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
* If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
* Once the program has loaded, select Perform full scan, then click Scan.
* When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
* Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

and finally download and run this program

Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune from http://www.atribune.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=25 . Save it to your Desktop.

Run ATF Cleaner

* Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
* Click Select All found at the bottom of the list.
* Click the Empty Selected button.
* Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.
* Shutdown/restart the computer.
http://www.atribune.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=25

here is a good article about this type of infection.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/anatomy_of_a_hack/print.html

Please follow those directions and let us know how you are doing.

I had recent issues, and tried several things to try and find and fix it.

Superantispyware (as suggested twice above) was what finally found and fixed the problem.

Sue

When I ran the Housecalls, it didn't take long- just several seconds, I think. I didn't see a place where it offered a 'full scan'. But anyway, I did download the 'Superspyware' as suggested, and it did find several problems. It offered to 'reboot safe', which I did. I had not rebooted with the others, and maybe I was supposed to. When the computer restarted, the icon was gone, and there were no more pop ups. YIPPEE! Thank you for the sites. Should I keep the superspyware and the malware both?

yes update both and run them weekly. if you did not do all the steps please do go ahead and do them even though the icon is gone.

To all who helped me- thank you!
Ravencajun- The article you guided me to was exactly what happened! You mention the 'chrome' being different- that is what caught me eye- the backwards white stripe on the red shield! Because I am not savvy enough on the computer, I do not do any ordering of anything online. I will phone the site if I see something. I do not do any banking, paying bills, or anything like that. Too scary for me!
I have kept your sites that cleared things up- thanks.
I do have a question about how the thieves get their money???... If somebody put their credit card number on by ordering something, wouldn't that person's credit card company go after these people? The credit card company has the address of the thieves- wouldn't they take some legal action??