Removing stubborn spyware

Hello,
A very stubborn sort of spyware program has infected my uncle's computer. It keeps up popping windows that his computer is vulnerable and urges him to buy some anti spyware (its clearly spyware that program). And hes unable to run any sort of executable file, weve even tried installing anti spyware programs but they dont run because of that program. How can we fix this problem (we've tried restarting/logging off but nothing works).

 

What's the name of the software he's supposed to buy?

 

If he hasn't made major changes to his system he could do a system restore, essentially time-traveling to an earlier state that his computer was in (one before the spyware came aboard).

 

What programs have you tried installing?

 

its called Windows Anti Virus pro alert. He never installed anything like that but apparently its on his pc and it urges him every 5 sec to buy the premium version and no executable files are running

 

weve tried AVG free and weve even tried opening the Add or remove thing in control panel and it doesnt work :S

 

So...what about restoring, as mentioned above??

 

ok well try that, he had some data he didnt want to loose..will we loose any data? he doesnt care about any of the programs hes installed just data like files?

 

Does he have a burner? Do you have an external HD? You could always make an extra copy of important files just in case if you wanted to...

 

If it's spyware then give Ad-aware, spybot S&D or malware bytes a go.

 

we just tried clicking on the system restore icons and apparently theyre not opening either

 

To the OP: don't do anything drastic! A simple google search for that application produces this link:

http://www.myantispyware.com/2009/07/27/how-to-remove-windows-antivirus-pro-uninstall-instructions/

Try those removal instructions.

 

ohhh were gonna try the instructions , thanks a million for that link!! and thanks every1 else u guys were alot of help!!

 

oh wait that otm file isnt running, in fact no app is running ..is there anyway to fix that?

 

Did you follow the instructions?

If necessary, reboot the computer, then follow the instructions again.

 

something happened and it worked , i have no idea how

Thanks again guys, ur the best!!!

 

The instructions in the link I found helped? Good, I'm glad your computer is running again.

 

we followed all teh steps but it says registry editing has been disabled by the adminstrator at the end :S , anyway to fix that?

 

If you boot up as the administrator (you'll have to enable the actual administrator account first), you should be able to access the registry.

http://lifehacker.com/341521/enable-vistas-administrator-account

You might also be able to boot into safe mode and then access the registry (try this first!)

You can also give this a read and see if it helps:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/...gistry-editor-when-disabled-by-administrator/

 

I've run into spyware/virus whatever it was... that disabled HiJackThis from running, disabled any anti-malware programs, disabled editing the registry and took control over your search engines so you won't be able to recover... and you can't reverse to a previous restore point. As soon as you realize you loose control over your laptop turn off internet access from any point modem/router/wifi switch.

Then you need a bootable homemade CD to combat all this if you still want to keep your existing operating system. Best way is to prevent this from happening rather than cleaning up after spyware/malware. If the system reboots by itself ... hit F8 to access safe mode right away and clean all temps and try to scan everything from that point. Don't allow it to run normally.