How do you remove WinFixer?

Question

I recently got the "Winfixer" virus on my system. Whenever I would launch IE (or sometimes just refresh an IE page) I would get a second instance of IE launch, connecting to winfixer.com. I ran Norton virus scan which detected and removed the virus - subsequent scans do not reveal the presence of the virus. However, I continue to get additional IE instances launched to the www.winfixer.com site whenever I start IE. I've cleaned out history, files and cookies on IE, turned off system restore but continue to have this problem. Ideas on how to correct this??

Answer

This question was answered on February 13, 2006. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

Winfixer is not actually a virus. It is classified as a "Potentially Unwanted Program" It is supposed to fix Windows errors. It will install itself and requires you to pay a subscription fee through the Winfixer website before it will actually fix anything. An anti-spyware tool is the best way to attack this problem. Spybot is an excellent free application that can be easily found through a web search. Take the following steps to remove Winfixer:

1. Download and install Spybot - Search & Destroy.

2. Download and install Updates. Updates should be automatically downloaded with a click on Search for Updates button on the toolbar.

3. Run Spybot - Search & Destroy and click Check for problems button to allow Spybot to check your hard drive.

4. In minutes, Spybot - Search & Destroy reports the following problems.

* WinFixer2005

* WinFixer

* Winsoftware.common

5. After Spybot is done scanning, click Fix selected problems button on the toolbar to remove WinFixer and other spyware detected.

6. You should reboot your computer and run Spybot check again to assure that WinFixer is removed from your system.

Author

Posted by daryl of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 13, 2006