posted on Apr, 1 2011 @ 11:08 AM
I fell victim to this too.
The virus in question, for myself, was the XP Security Centre Anti-Virus 2011 which emulates your Security Centre in XP and is a pain to remove.
If altering file associations fails you may have to stop processes and edit registry - DO NOT edit any registry keys if you are not comfortable with
this.
CTRL + ALT + DEL or CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to enter Task Manager, click Processes tab and stop the following process:
CB130_287.exe
Find and delete these files:
Navigate to the file folder using explorer (as explained in an earlier post, My Computer etc)
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\23077d\CB130_287.exe
Finally, remove Windows Antivirus 2011 Registry Values:
Only do this if you are comfortable making these changes. If not you may want to ask someone with a little more technical experience.
Go to Start and Run and type in regedit. You will need to find and delete the following registry keys. They may or may notexist. Do not delete
anything not on this list or you risk deleting critical system files.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\open\command “(Default)” = “%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\pw.exe”
/START “%1″ %*
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pezfile
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pezfile\shell\open\command “(Default)” = “%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\pw.exe”
/START “%1″ %*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center “AntiVirusOverride” = “1″
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\shell\safemode\command “(Default)” = “%UserProfile%\Local
Settings\Application Data\pw.exe” /START “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -safe-mode
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\IEXPLORE.EXE\shell\open\command “(Default)” = “%UserProfile%\Local
Settings\Application Data\pw.exe” /START “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe”
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center “FirewallOverride” = “1″
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\shell\open\command “(Default)” = “%UserProfile%\Local
Settings\Application Data\pw.exe” /START “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe”
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\shell\open\command “(Default)” = “%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\pw.exe” /START “%1″ %*
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pezfile\shell\open\command “(Default)” = “%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data\pw.exe” /START “%1″ %*
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pezfile
I hope this may help.