while i was online one night, winantispyware downloaded itself onto my computer and i was unable to stop it. ever since then, unusual things have started to occur and i am starting to get quite scared my computer might crash or something. i am starting to wonder if something worse downloaded itself with it.

the names on the icons on my desktops are highlighted black, my computer has slowed down immensely, my IE will randomly close and sometimes it's followed by multiple error messages, some programs won't open, startup is delayed a lot, the amount of popups are ridiculous and sometimes i don't see one but i can hear the ad in it, i can't use google/yahoo/ask jeeves because my IE will close, random programs that i have to uninstall and sometimes return, random icons appearing on my desktop. so far these are the ones i can think up off the top of my head and as you can see, they are a lot of symptoms.

i've tried to do system restore many times with different dates but they never work. i've run multiple spyware and virus scans and while they do find and delete many things (even things titled winantispyware) the problem continues.

i'm very worried and i need help desperately. i can't think of anything to do. please, someone help me fix all of this!

Boot to safe mode then run the spyware and virus scans.

More info at Symantec (Norton) here:

WinAntiSpyware Removal Instructions

Denisse, "the names on the icons on my desktops are highlighted black,"

For the above problem follow the instructions at the link below.

http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/Windows...

Tufenuf

Here is a page on winantispyware removal:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/for...
Many people used it and found it worked good.

Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions
Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

Go to majorgeeks.com and download at least 6 antivirus programs. Then shutdown System Restore, boot into safemode, and start running them. Webroot Spysweeper does a good job of getting rid of Winantispyware/ spyaxe and all of those.

Then when you are sure its gone, do this:
"Run" ->
type - "cmd" ->
type - "sfc/scannow" ->
Insert a valid windows disk or a very good copy and stand by. It will probably prompt you about 25 times to click next, but when it gets done, your system will run much better. It goes through and repairs or replaces all of the system files the malware ate up.

ecdarby, does Webroot Spysweeper trial version remove infections or do you have to pay for their software? If you have to pay, there could be many false positives when running it.

Denisse, if you need some good FREE spyware removers and other progs with the instructions, just click on the link in my signature.

Some HELP in posting on Cnet plus free progs and instructions
Hopefully my advice will help you...Please post back your result

ooops my mistake .. wrong info ..