WMI error... possibly a virus behind it? Help!

[Guest]

Ok.. I keep getting this WMI error report pop-up. It sometimes occurs when I install games (ex. splinter cell pandora tomarrow demo, halo, rise of nations)and always occurs when I try to make a directX diagnostic. This doesn't happen to all my games like warcraft3, diablo2, and a few others. The error report says that WMI has encountered an error and needs to shutdown. After I send the error report it says "Thank you for taking the time to report this problem. Please Follow the link below for information which may prevent this problem in the future." Naturally i click on teh link "More information". It then takes me to this microsoft webpage, http://oca.microsoft.com/en/Response.asp?SID=227, where it says that this error was most likely cause by W32/Pate.b.worm Virus. It says to

Now I was wondering, obviously, how do you get rid of this WMI problem??? Should I get anti-virus detection software for this virus if this is whats possibly causing the problem?? What should I do??

 

[Sharon F]

It then takes me to this microsoft webpage,
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/Response.asp?SID=227, where it says that
this error was most likely cause by W32/Pate.b.worm Virus. It says to

Now I was wondering, obviously, how do you get rid of this WMI
problem??? Should I get anti-virus detection software for this virus if
this is whats possibly causing the problem?? What should I do??

Your top priority should be finding out whether or not you have a virus. If
you do, clean and repair the system as soon as possible.

Get some antivirus software. Install it. Update it. Then scan your system
and let it clean out any viruses it finds. If you have many infected system
files, be prepared to reinstall programs and possibly repair Windows.

Some viruses will block the installation of antivirus software. If you find
that is the case, visit one of the online scanners. Here's URLs to a few of
those:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virusscan.aspx