Viruses stopping PC from booting up

[Hendo]

My dad bought some anti-virus the other week, whether it's related to this or not, but today two separate "anti-virus" programs have attached themselves to his PC, saying that he needs to pay up to get rid of the viruses they've found.

Problem is, they appear right on the splash screen as you're booting up and the only way to close them is to Ctrl-Alt-Delete and them close them from there.

Worse is that because it's on the splash screen, there doesn't seem to be a way of getting into Windows.

I'm gonna try going into Safe mode and I'll come back with the names of the viruses/trojans, but in the meantime anyone got any ideas?

He asked me if I have any trouble and I just shrugged and said, "I don't run Windows, so no", and my brother runs Ubuntu so he doesn't have these problems either.

[Sly Reflex]

I use Avira, it's free and it fucking spots everything that could be even slightly malicious. You have to pay to get the real time protection, but I never really needed it. Start up in safe mode and run a scan and delete any shit you find, then get Avira. It's great.

[DANGERMAN]

I echo Slys thoughts, except you should get Avast, then you get real time protection for free.

VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED

[retroed]

I use Avira, it's free and it fucking spots everything that could be even slightly malicious. You have to pay to get the real time protection, but I never really needed it. Start up in safe mode and run a scan and delete any shit you find, then get Avira. It's great.

o/

Avira is brilliant, used it for the last few years and put it on my new laptop straight away.

Also, try malwarebytes, and super anti-spyware.

[hinn888]

I use Avira too, i didnt think it was tht well known. Only got it urgently coz Norton kept fucking me over.

[Sly Reflex]

Only problem with Avira is that sometimes during a scan it can get quite heavy and slow things down. I just leave the PC to it when it's on a scan though.

[Cyberpunk]

Those Anti-virus programs that have attached themselves are actually Spy-ware. It's a very common problem, especially with Windows Xp. A good Spy-ware remover like Spyware Doctor (My personal favourite) or Malwarebytes should help. Worst case senario is use your pc to google fixes for it. There are plenty about. Any trouble, just message me, and I;ll see what I can do from this end.

Avira is a really good Anti-virus prog. I personally use Symantec Endpoint-Protection and Internet Security, but that's because I bought a 3 year subscription, and Symantec Internet Security lets me configure what my kids do online.

[Hendo]

Got rid of it in the end, through some back door into Windows, via Task Manager, I'm not sure how.

Ran the existing anti-virus and I think it's dealt with.