When using the internet a pop-up window appeared talking about the wonders of WinAntiVirus. Being suspicious, I searched Google and discovered this is actually malware of some description, so I did not download the software. However, Internet Explorer is now running very slowly and crashing, and the WinAntiVirus webpage keeps appearing. How can I remove any trace of WinAntiVirus from the computer?

It is good that you are suspicious of such things, since any unsolicited message promoting particular software should be treated with a degree of distrust. In this case your suspicions were correct as WinAntiVirus is a known malware program. However, we cannot say for certain whether WinAntiVirus is actually installed on the computer, despite the window appearing on a regular basis advertising the product, since a different piece of malware may be installed which is causing the advertisements to appear. In fact, this is the more likely scenario given WinAntiVirus is unlikely to advertise itself if you have already installed the product. The first procedure to attempt is a full system scan of the computer for adware, spyware and other malware. Download and install Ad-Aware SE Personal (www.lavasoft.de), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org), and Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/downloads). Between these three free utilities most threats on the computer should be identified. If any threats are detected, then take the recommended action to remove the threat. I also suggest you run a complete virus scan on the computer to ensure no viruses have found their way onto the machine. Should you not already have a virus scanner installed, a good free virus scanner is AVG Anti-Virus Free, available at: free.grisoft.com .

Should these utilities detect the threat, but not be able to complete a removal, it will be difficult to provide further advice regarding removal without knowing the exact threat which is present on the computer. In this situation, please contact me again with additional information regarding the identified threat(s) and I will attempt to provide advice for the removal of that threat.