AVG free error and registry cleaner question?

[short]

ok, so I let my lil cousin use my computer to watch youtube videos and download music, and the next time i got on there i kept getting pop ups from some "registry cleaner" site saying my registry is in danger and I must go to their site, get their reg cleaner and fix it.

i have heard of this before- a virus or whatever u call it- that says to go to their site to "fix" your pc and it actually loads bad stuff in it. i did NOT go to the site, but instead tried to update and scan my pc with ad-aware and spybot. it would not allow me to go to any other internet sites. i resored my pc to an earlier time, and tried to update my scanners.

Ad-aware was apparently an outdated version that was no longer good. i tried to uninstall it and re-install it. during the re-install, something went wrong. it did not install completely so i tried to uninstall again, but when i go to "add or delete programs" and click to uninstall it, it says "installation failed! Installer installion failed due to following error: Initiation of launguage file C:/Program files\Grisoft\AVG free failed. General failure."

i tried to just re-install it, but it gives me an error message when loading. i cant figure out how to get that out of there so i can re-install it.  ANy ideas?

Also wondering..... was this annoying pop-up a potential threat? how do u tell if its legit or if its trying to trick me? what should i do when/if this happens?

any thoughts or advice is appreciated!!

Thanks!  

[short]

Sorry! Forgot to add:  

its a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop running windows xp home.

i think that it! please help me! thanks!

[patio]

You should be able to just re-install the AVG software
Update it and add the following to your arsenal:
Spybot Search and Destroy
AdAware
AVG Anti-Spyware ( different than AVG AV )

Update all of these and dis-connect from the web.
Re-boot into safemode and run each scan...let them fix anything they find.

Post back with your results and we'll take it from there...

[short]

No luck  

First, i tried a fresh install. When i try to go to AVG control center, i get an error message that reads: "Could not initialize AVG Anti-virus kernel interface"   If i try to go to AVG free edition for windows, it does nothing at all. acts as if i didnt click on anything.

also, when installing it gives an option of fixing installed components. tried that second, still no go.

i already have spybot on there, and it found no threats. also, installed Super anti-spyware free edition today. it found quite a few probs and quarantined them. the avg spyware you mentioned is only a free trial. i will do it anyway and use the free trial.

any other suggestions on how to fix avg free? i have used it for awhile and like it. i thought about going to the program file and just sending that to my recycle bin but i'm afraid of messing anything up. please help!  :-?

[patio]

Is AVG listed in add/remove ? ?
If so remove it from there and re-install...

P.S. The AVG anti-spyware is still good after 30 days...all that gets disabled is the real time scan which you don't need anyways.

[short]

Yes, its listed under add/remove programs, but if i click Uninstall, it brings up an error message that reads, " Installation failed!!" when i click on details, it says, "error: installation of launguage file C:\program files\grisoft\avg free failed. general failure"

it only gives an option to click ok.

[oddjob]

Stay offline.

Use the AVG Free uninstaller to uninstall the program entirely.

Go to Add/Remove Programs to see if it's still showing as installed. (If so ... uninstall it again from there.)

Open your Task Manager (hit Ctrl + Alt + Del together).

You may see around 3 AVG processes still running. Use "End process" on each of them.

Now try re-installing AVG Free.

Did that work?


OJ

[short]

The problem is that I can't get it to disappear from the Add/Remove Programs section. I have tried going through the Start menu to the AVG Free program, and choosing uninstall through there, but still no luck. When i try to uninstall, no matter from what way, it says, "installation failed!" and gives an error message, but does not give a action choice except "ok". It seems like when I re-install it does not re-write over the old files. I need to figure out how to re-write over those files, or maybe change the file name and/or destination. It will not let me change it though, it is pre-set and won't let you click on it.

I have not tried to end task through the task manager. I do not have the laptop with me right now, but i will try that this weekend and let you know if that worked.

If anyone knows how I could change the destination even though it wont allow me to, i think that would fix it. I really don't know what else to do, it seems to be stuck.  

[Fed]

What is in your C:\program files\grisoft directory?