XP security virus strange problems [urgent]

digital dilemna

Distinguished
May 19, 2011
1
0
18,510
i was on the web doing absolutely nothing to give myself a virus. windows security center flipped out and started saying i had a ton of viruses and trojans. i found this very strange seeing as i had disabled the security center in favor of symantec and AVG. suspicious, i ran an avg scan and it came up clean. soon after i discovered that i could not use the internet browsers nor could i access the security center. 10 minutes later i found it was a virus that infects security center and gives fake viruses to try and get your credit card information. [ironicly i don't have a credit card]

i have looked into removing it, but all the solutions require booting into safe mode. therein lies my issue, as i cannot find the option no matter what i do as it boots up. below is the information on my computer and the virus i have, as well as the symptoms in case i have the wrong virus in mind and you notice which it is.

operating system: windows XP
computer: Dell, optiplex GX260 Series
antiviruses running: AVG free trial, symantec endpoint protection
symptoms: can open the internet, but browser refuses to let me use webpages and insists they are unsafe, even ones that i created and are only on my hard drive, which was a big hint it was fake. cannot access the security center via control panel, multiple processes called cnp.exe running with 64kb mem usage, runs the "scan" immediately on startup and without fail comes up with the same viruses in order, and one was apparently located in the AVG file and called joke.

webpages i have used:
http://www.spywareremove.com/removexpantivirus2012.html
http://www.disablemalware.com/xp-anti-virus-2011?gclid=CIGCsPDCnq0CFYvDKgodnx5hkw

how do i start in safe mode, how do i remove this, and how do i make sure it stays gone?
i have removed many viruses before and know how to use the restore and safe mode, i just cant find it on this desktop for some reason. i will supply any further information you need, just please help me get rid of this.

also, after this has obviously gotten through my antivirus, im looking for a new free program that will perform better or will fill the gaps in the other two.
 

symthomas

Distinguished
Dec 26, 2011
1
0
18,510


Hello,

If you are running a Symantec product, I would start with downloading the latest Rapid Release definitions.
Next, boot into safe mode (as instructed by Pyree) and running a Disk Cleanup (right-click the C drive, Properties, Disk Cleanup) - that will delete all the files that are in these temporary locations, as well as IE's temporary files, etc. Perform a full system scan in safe mode.
If that fails to detect and remove the threats, there are some useful tools that are provided by Symantec for help with finding those hard to detect threats.

1. The Power Eraser Tool eliminates deeply embedded and difficult to remove threats that traditional virus scanning doesn't always detect.

2. The SERT (Symantec Endpoint Recovery Tool) is useful in situations where computers are too heavily infected for the Symantec Endpoint Protection client installed upon them to clean effectively.

3. The Load point Analysis Tool generates a detailed report of the programs loaded on your system. It is helpful in listing common loadpoints where threats can live.


Rapid Release Virus Definitions –
http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/definitions/download/detail.jsp?gid=rr

Power Eraser tool –
http://security.symantec.com/nbrt/npe.asp?lcid=1033&origin=default

How To Use the Symantec Endpoint Recovery Tool with the Latest Virus Definitions –http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH131732&locale=en_US

Support Tool with Power Eraser Tool included –
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH105414&locale=en_US
How to use the Load Point Analysis within the Symantec Support Tool to help locate suspicious files http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH141402
If you are unable to remove the threat(s) from your systems, please submit the suspected files to Symantec or ThreatExpert for analysis. New signatures will be created and included in future definition sets for detection.

http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/submitsamples.jsp
http://www.threatexpert.com/submit.aspx



Regards,
Thomas