Easily Clean XP Antivirus 2009 Infection with MALWAREBYTES

[imaredhead946]

This is a very nasty virus i got on Mar 08, 2009.  I suspect I got it from a movie website in which I NEVER clicked on any fake virus popup windows.  I left my computer alone for a couple hours, came back and my desktop wallpaper had been hijacked with a blinking message that read "WARNING" and something to the effect that my computer was at risk.  It was obvious that something new was in my system tray and I could not stop it with Task Manager.  My REAL antivirus (McAfee) did NOT detect it.  In fact this virus deactivated my McAfee as well as my Task Manager.  It also changed my connection settings in Firefox so that I couldn't get on the internet.  It had been changed to use a Manual Proxy Configuration.  I had to make several attempts to boot up in SAFE MODE.  Once in Safe Mode (and Firefox couldn't be used), I used Internet Explorer and I tried to download MALWAREBYTES from a link I found in a google search; however, the SAVE BUTTON WAS GREYED OUT and I was having a difficult time with McAfee popups.  I had to reboot in Safe Mode several more times.  I was finally able to download MALWAREBYTES from http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=mncol  and save it. In the meantime I tried to get support from McAfee who sent me a file that "should" fix my antivirus updates but they wouldn't give me the password to open the fix file.  This is after getting 3 technicians.  So much for Tech Support!!  I finally gave up on them and finally just ran MALWAREBYTES which detected and cleaned up the XP ANTIVURUS 2009 virus.  I ran it twice in SAFE MODE, then was able to update my McAfee.  I then ran my antivirus twice in Safe Mode.  I had to manually change my Firefox network connection settings (Tools, options, Network, Settings, Direct Connection to Internet) and also had to manually correct "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator" error message by following instructions from this link:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555480  I am so pleased to have read reviews from people who used MALWAREBYTES.  It was the best and EASIEST thing I could have found to fix this problem. It automatically removed all registry entries pertaining to this virus as per the list found on http://remove-malware.net/how-to-remove-xp-antivirus-2009/ .  Thank you Malwarebytes and to all the users who recommended it!!