Control Panel?

I hadn't realized my anti-virus protection had expired and something got installed on my computer. I bought a new anti-virus program, and when I went to install it, it told me I had to uninstall my old one. When I went to do that, my computer informed me I had been locked out of my control panel... So obviously whatever this virus is, it locked me out of doing anything. How do I fix this??

Control Panel?virus protection software

i would turn off restore, then boot into safe mode, remove old anti-virus, unless its nortons, and you have to use there removeal tool for that. and/or download avg free, update it, and run in safe mode, might pick up your guest.

Control Panel?adware

You can try creating a new profile on your computer, and installing it on there, but allowing it to be used on your original. That has worked for me in the past when I've had viruses, but each one work differently so...
You might try to see if you can access the Add/Remove program directly. From your Start menu, select Run and in the text box enter appwiz.cpl

If the malware locked the control panel you may have other issues with the install. You might first try using an online scanner such as OneCare. You can get a list of some others in the second link.
should of just upgraded your original program