trying to get rid of virus

I have a Dell laptop, with Windows XP Home. I believe I've gotten a virus
that has limited my control of the computer. I keep getting a "windows
secutiry alert " that talks about potential spyware, and the notice is full
of misspelling so I'm pretty sure it's bogus. And I can't get the window to
close.

My Macafee expired, so I downloaded free Avast AV from downloads.com, and
Zone Alarm. Since this problem started, I tried downloading a new Macafee
subscription, but it wouldn't load the AV since Avast is still there. I was
able to uninstall ZoneAlarm, but I can't get to my control panel (it says to
contact my system administrator, but I am not on a network, so clearly
something has taken control), so I can't uninstall Avast AV so I can get the
Macafee AV downloaded and run.
Any help?

Have you tried to uninstall or install any of those programs in Safe
Mode? Since Safe Mode can be set up to NOT have networking, you might
have better luck. Just keep tapping the F8 key as your computer reboots
and choose Safe Mode from the DOS-looking screen that appears.

GP

--->
> I have a Dell laptop, with Windows XP Home. I believe I've gotten a virus
> that has limited my control of the computer. I keep getting a "windows
> secutiry alert " that talks about potential spyware, and the notice is full
> of misspelling so I'm pretty sure it's bogus. And I can't get the window to
> close.
>
> My Macafee expired, so I downloaded free Avast AV from downloads.com, and
> Zone Alarm. Since this problem started, I tried downloading a new Macafee
> subscription, but it wouldn't load the AV since Avast is still there. I was
> able to uninstall ZoneAlarm, but I can't get to my control panel (it says to
> contact my system administrator, but I am not on a network, so clearly
> something has taken control), so I can't uninstall Avast AV so I can get the
> Macafee AV downloaded and run.
> Any help?