My friend called me last night and asked if I knew any good viral removal tools because he got a virus on his computer and his McAfee was not catching it.  He described the virus as taking over the computer, changing his background, the computer windows clock was displaying “virus alert” among other strange behaviors.  We determined through research we were dealing with AntiVirusXP2008.

Here is what Norton says about AntiVirus2008

Type: Misleading Application
Name: AntiVirusXP2008
Risk Impact: Medium
Systems Affected: Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP
Behavior

The program must be manually downloaded and installed.

Here is a screen shot of AntiVirusXP2008

This info below was on http://hubpages.com/hub/XP-Antivirus regarding more specific behaviors.

XP antivirus 2008 behaves differently on different computers depending on at what stage of installation it’s been caught, but generally the appearance of XP antivirus pop-ups can end in:

- desktop icons and folders messed up or disappeared;
- Start button and taskbar disappeared;
- user’s settings corrupted;
- desktop background wallpaper changed;
- annoying screensaver you’ve never seen;
- disabled Task Manager;
- Windows Clock appearance changed;
- Windows unable to boot;
- Internet Explorer not working.

XP Antivirus may degrade the desktop color scheme to 8 bit instead of 32 bit pattern. This malware also displays fake Blue Screen Of Death (commonly known as BSOD) using Sysinternals software. Additionally, the desktop may look as if Windows were restarting.

The Solution:

After trying the following with no success:

http://hubpages.com/hub/XP-Antivirus
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10041667-12.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080622134522AArOdlz
http://www.superantispyware.com/

This is what successfully removed the AntiVirusXP2008:  Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

1. Download the software to your desktop.  Note: We did not purchase it.

2. After you downloaded the software, close all windows on your computer.

3.  It is advised to disable system restore.

4.  To disable system restore
right click on my computer > Properties > System Restore Tab > Check Turn Off System Restore Check Box > click OK

5.  Double click on the newly created icon on your desktop to start the install of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

6.  Follow the prompts in order to complete the install.

7.  After install is complete Click on the Update tab and run an update.

8.  When update is complete, click on the Scanner tab and check the Perform Full Scan radio button. Then Click Scan.

9. The Scan will take approx 40 minutes depending on the size of your hard drive.

10.  When the scan is complete click OK to show results of the scan.

11.  Make sure all items are selected and Click Remove Selected.

12.  When the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software is finished removed, a notepad doc will pop up. you can review, print, and save this doc if you wish.

13. You can then close the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software.

14.  Restart your machine.

15.  AntiVirusXP2008 should now be removed from your system.

16.  You can now either purchase the pro version of this software or remove it by using Add/Remove Programs in your control panel.

17.  You may also turn back on the system restore feature.