Serious Problem

I have had a virus attack which has rendered my pc unusable (i am currently using my sister's pc). Assuming it starts up correctly, a maximised internet explorer window covers the desktop (below the icons) with a fake virus message that links to an assumingly malicious virus scanner site. The words "VIRUS ALERT" have appeared next to the clock on the taskbar. It continuously opens popups linking to teh same site as the background and any attempt to use firefox results in being redirected to various malicious sites. It has also taken administrative privlages and removed all programs from the start command, disabled access to teh control panel, task manager and the command prompt. I scanned with AVG 8 (which i could only access due to having a desktop icon) which did not find anything (after 1.5 hours of scanning) could not connect to update and crashed as the scan finished. Spyware S&D (which was continuously blocking registry entries) found malware in a scan, then froze when i tried to heal them. It also causes the task bar and desktop to freeze soon after making it diffucult to do anything successfully. I am using windows XP

 

Hmm, it seems to have gotten worse. Starting up the pc now results in it not responding to any input, and restarting it in safe mode results in a bsod saying the video driver will not initiate. I'll give it another try after collage but if not, ya think a professional could do somthing about it if i take it to a shop? I don't wanna pay if i know it won't work, and my data on that pc is valuable.

 

OK, i'm back. I have talked to my networking lecturer and she suggested booting in linux (somthing which i have never done before) and copying the files onto a flash drive the to my sister's pc (i've got a slow 4GB one and about 30GB of data i wanna save) then re-formatting. I also asked in a local computer repair shop and he said he refused to use linux, but if i let him, he would try and save my files and reformat with a windows pc, but there was a chance that he could not if the virus was using windows admin privlages to prevent it. Any suggestions? (such as how to save teh files with linux or how to access safe mode without the video driver bsod)

 

yes, sadly, i cannot run anything. Windows starts, the desktop goes white, icons and the taskbar appear (including the words "virus alert" next to the clock, which it inserted at an earlier stage) and the cursor stays as an hourglass and dosn't respond to clicking. Your suggestion to move the harddrive to another protected pc was the same answer i was given when i asked a local computer repair shop what they would do but, due to it removing task manager and control panel, there is a chance that it would stop him making changes through admin privlages, and he would just re-format it, which would be bad because i have every photo i've taken in the last decade on the HD not backed up, as well as hundreds of CDs on itunes, a lot of which i borrowed from people who have moved house and backups of a few rare pc games i have lost the disks from.

 

I don't actually have different user accounts set, the malware just caused certain feeatures to be blocked, saying it was due to admin restrictions. Does this mean it could prevent access to the files on the harddrive?