How to remove virus from laptop?

I believe my laptop has contracted a virus. These are the symptoms; I click on an icon and the icon disappears, it freezes and I then have to reboot and there was a background on my laptop saying that windows has detected spyware and yada yada (not sure what the whole message was) but the message replaced my background. I removed the message, but now I just have a blue screen. I removed the message by going to my registry and deleting some sort of thing that removed the tabs that allowed me to change my screensaver and background. These are some of the codes I have found that are related to the virus: it starts with p3n or phn and ends in eaac. I found several and they all contained letters and numbers. Please help!How to remove virus from laptop?
wow, i suggest u dl avg, or malware/anitmalware bytes (free) and try and remove it like that. just dl them and run a full system scan.

edit:operate in safe mode, DO NOT SYSTEM RESOTRE, and see if u can dl them like that OR make a DATA disc all ur important info, just a data disc, and reinstall or have windows fix the errorsHow to remove virus from laptop?
From safe mode, you can run System Restore. It will take your computer back to a date in time before you had the virus. You will lose any uploads or files saved in the last week or so. The Restore Date is usually reset each time Windows Update is Installed. So pick a date that is a week or two ago. Anytime before the virus showed up. The most recent restore date will probably be good. You can find System Restore by going to Start/ All Programs/ Accessories/ System Tools/ System Restore. I have had to do this a couple of times, and it is very cranky from Safe Mode so work with it. I clicked on it, and it took like 2-3 minutes to pop up. Naturally, I thought it would never show up. I clicked on it 3-4 times before it got to working.
Run the installed antivirus program. If you don't have one installed, you will have to buy and install it to get rid of the virus.
1) System Restore. (It only restores the registry, it doesn't remove files. But programs that are installed not only put files on the drive, they add registry entrries - those will be removed, so even though the programs are still on the drive, some of them, that were installed since the restore date, won't run.)



2) NEVER edit the registry until you learn what you're doing. Even if you have a step-by-step printed guide, one little typo could render your computer totally unusable.



3) Reinstalling Windows is usually the best bet if you have a virus. (Then, of course, you have to stop whatever it was that you were doing to download viruses - visiting unsafe web sites, clicking on email links, downloading ';free'; music or movies ...) Don't listen to anyone who tells you that getting viruses ia part of being on the internet. I've been on the internet since the 80s, have NEVER run any anti-virus or anti-spyware programs, and have NEVER gotten any malware in any of my computers.



BTW, if the computer operates in safe mode but not in normal mode, it usually indicates a corrupted driver, not a virus. (Safe mode is the same as normal mode, but some drivers aren't loaded.)