complete screen covered with virus?

A friend has found a scam virus.asking for money?But it covers his complete screen so he cannot access anything,it won't turn off only by unplugging it.and removing battery.
windows XP on laptop but I don't know make. He says he cannot even access safe mode.
Any ideas (sorry if not enough info)
colin, November 2011


done
Thanks Carl all done and dusted.

colin, December 2011
You can try to boot the computer in safe mode with networking and try to scan your computer for infections. You might want to call 8555616161 and get it fixed instantly...

Yogitalk1, November 2011
Thank you for the info.
Next question is.- will my AVG recovery disc work on his laptop?
And how does he do this?
start-up insert disc and reboot??
I guess?

colin, November 2011
Ok this may be difficult because the fix is getting more complex, but what you need to do is to boot the machine with either an Anti-Virus Product which can do this, or an alternative OS.

See one option here...
http://www.avg.com/gb-en/avg-rescue-cd

Carl, November 2011
apparently the name is Ukash metropolitan police and I've been informed there is nothing you can do about it?
It fills the hole screen and ctrl,alt,del doesn't work?
need more help?

colin, November 2011
Have you tried ctrl alt del keys together? Does this bring up Task Manager? If it does look for a Process which could be the virus. Stop the process. Be bold. You wouldn't normally do this, but you shouldn't cause any harm. If the full screen scam vanishes as you close a process you've found it. Once it is gone do a full virus scan of your machine. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a great free tool and one of the best at cleaning an already infected machine.

Carl, November 2011