Internet Antivirus Trojan

[kay8jay]

Hi -

I have Windows XP. I have been using Spybot Search & Destroy and have been very pleased with it.

But I recently was invaded by what I think is a trojan, called "Internet Antivirus." It has apparently infected my computer while at the same time offering to "fix" it (for fifty bucks). I get pop-ups from it all the time... every time I want to go to any website, I get taken first to an Internet Antivirus website that warns me I might be about to get a virus.

I can click on the bottom of the page where it says "continue, not recommended" and then I get a pop-up that asks me if I want to "continue unprotected" or whether I want to get "real-time protection."

When I ran Spybot Search and Destroy to hopefully at least detect this program, the program was not found. Not surprisingly, neither is it found in "Add or Remove Programs." It has, however, given itself an icon on my toolbar which I have also been unable to detect in order to remove it.

One of the more troubling things, too, is that it HAS somehow interfered with Spybot, in that I hardly ever get the (very welcome) Spybot pop-ups that I used to get on certain commercial sites, asking me if I want to "allow" or "deny" certain programs, like "ad click." I found it very helpful to be able to click "deny" for these kinds of things, but they never show up anymore, even when I went to one of the websites (imdb) where I knew I got warnings all the time from Spybot.

I'm not sure if I let this trojan in by "allowing" something through Spybot which I should have "denied."

Please help... I think this must be a common trojan...

Obviously, I'm NOT going to pay the trojan to MAYBE remove itself (geez, they're like the mafia!) but what step should I take next?

Sincerely,

Kate

[md usa spybot fan]

kay8jay (Kate):

Consider posting in the Malware Removal forum and having someone take a look at your system.

If you decide to have an experienced malware removal specialist assist you, please follow the procedure in this link to run scans and produce a HijackThis log:

• "BEFORE you POST"(READ this Procedure BEFORE Requesting Assistance).

After you have completed the required scans and produced the requested logs, start your own thread in the Malware Removal forum, making sure to post the HijackThis log produced from the above instructions.

[kay8jay]

Thank you!