AVG-Windows update failure

This damn thing had me stumped. Problem with nearly all the fixes listed here was my computer ran Vista 64x and none of them worked. I ended up saving my applications to disk and then reloading my computer to factory settings, an option available with Vista. The malware had embedded itself in two other programs which I found when I scanned the disks using the on-line Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Have no idea where I picked up this !#*~+ thing as I'm super cautious, but obviously one time I slipped up. I had ran the Microsoft Tool before, but it wasn't detected. Now after starting over with factory settings and programs scanned I back running greater than ever.

I too thank Morphine for directing me to Trojan Remover, but I'm not so sure that its author, Simply Super Software, isn't also the source of all these problems.

My computer was recently infected by what I think was a variant of the Win32/Conficker.B worm and I think my experience shows another way it can propagate. In my case the infection occurred, coincident and unattended, on 3/2/09 at 2:01AM when my ISP (Charter Communications) restored Internet service after a lengthy service outage. I had left the computer on with uTorrent running and discovered later that there were autorun.inf files with this creation date on all three of my hard drives. Among the many symptoms I experienced, in no particular order, were the following:

· The first sign was that all my network and router settings were screwed up. I had to remove the router and connect directly to my cable modem in order to restore Internet service, but even then the DNS and DHCP servers wouldn't work properly. I barely had any connectivity, ipconfig commands were ineffectual, and my Local Area Connection would report that it couldn't renew the IP address whenever I clicked on Repair.
· The infection would unpredictably prevent many programs and services from running and eventually lock up the computer, preventing normal turn-off. Sometimes Task Manager would still work and I could shut it off that way, but most times I'd have to power-down manually and hope that action didn't necessitate a rebuild of my RAID volumes on the next boot (often it did).
· The computer would often freeze right on the Login screen during boot up, before I could even log in, and I'd have to power-down manually and retry. Even booting up with Last Known Good Configuration or in Safe Mode often didn't work and I'd have to try again until it worked.
· I'd receive numerous instances of 'Svchost.exe ' Application Error' messages on each login and on first attempts to open IE7 or Firefox, which could be resolved by clicking OK or Cancel, but never permanently.
· No reaction from System Restore whenever I selected a restore point and hit Restore, whether I was in normal mode or in Safe Mode.
· Windows Firewall would not start. I'd received a message saying Error 5: Access is denied. Similar situation with Windows Defender.
· I found mysterious Autorun.inf files on the root of all three of my hard drives, all with the same creation date.
· Windows Update, Microsoft Update and other security-related web sites like those from Symantic, McAffee,TrendMicro or Kaspersky could not be accessed. I'd get a message saying Address Not Found or something like it.
· Regardless of whether I tried to use the version that was already loaded on my hard drive or tried to use the latest version that I manually downloaded and burned to a CD with another computer, Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool would fail to run. With my already-loaded version there'd be no reaction. With the latest CD version it would seemingly start to self-extract and then stop before any other screen appeared.
· Without any discernible pattern, some applications and services would run while others would not. Windows Media Player never would run. Media Player Classic would report missing codecs and play without sound.
· Sometimes I'd be able to access Help and Support thru the Start menu; at other times not. Little ever stayed the same between reboots and the more I tried to debug the system, the worse it would seem to get.
· Sometimes the computer would slow to a crawl, for example: taking like 5 minutes or more just to fill out the Computer Management screen, but if I examined CPU usage with Windows Task Manager or Microsoft Process Explorer there would never be any significant activity.
· I'd always get a message on shut-down saying that lmgrd.exe (one of my license servers) was unresponsive and that certain memory couldn't be read and I'd have to click OK to continue the shut-down.
· On boot up the Event Viewer would log numerous warnings and errors, both under Application and under System, many related to DCOM and the Service Control Manager. Services would frequently fail to start, or stop for various reasons.
· Many quirks I can't remember because they'd happen one time and not the next.

From what I've read, what infected my computer had all the earmarks of the 'conficker' worm, aka 'downadup' and by many other names. You may have read that Microsoft has posted a $250,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the authors of this worm and that a huge consortium of organizations has been formed to fight it. The level of cooperation is unprecedented, because it seems so unstoppable and insidious and portending of worse things to come. That is why I am now so suspicious that I was ultimately able to clean it up so easily.

I spent 7 miserable days fighting this worm. I tried every fix I could find or think of, including the extensive manual steps to remove the conficker.b variant that Microsoft posted in KB article 962007. Then in one fell swoop, by running a trial copy of Trojan Remover, all symptoms disappeared. Microsoft Update instantly became accessible and I was able to update the operating system (XP Professional, SP3), Windows Firewall returned to operation, Windows Defender worked again after I reinstalled it (I had uninstalled it) and Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool suddenly ran the way it is supposed to (although it didn't find anything). All the problems miraculously disappeared, including all the warnings and error messages I had been getting.

A little too miraculously, if you ask me. How is it, when Microsoft and all the major antivirus companies and other institutions can't come up with a way to remove this worm and are saying they still don't fully understand how it deploys and the extent of what it does, a little known company like Simply Super Software can develop a program called Trojan Remover that instantly detects and removes all vestiges of the worm, leaving your computer like new. They're either computer geniuses that make everyone else look like amateurs, or they've conspired on a very nasty way to boost sales. I may be looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I think someone in the UK should investigate. Considering the enormous coordinated effort that has been put into fighting this worm, if it is indeed the conficker worm, the solution seems just a little too perfect.

Have you tried SUPERAntiSpyware?

None of the programs including Trojan Remover worked for me. It was SUPERAntiSpyware that did the trick. A brilliant program!

Have a go.

erm..how do u solve the trojan remover expired?