Windows Antivirus removal pop ups - can't get on internet either

hello....i had a windows antivirus removal pop up that infected my computer a couple of days ago. and another pop up that mentioned something about being infected with a trojan and if i wantd to remove it to click here so it can do a system scan. i knew it wasn't a real threat to my computer so i tried to close out of it which i know now is not the right thing to do. so i shut down my computer right away. the next day i put on my computer and the pop ups were still there and there was more and more of them. and i can't even go on the internet. the link at the top says something like www.linksoftware.com?????? don't remember all of it. so i think it took over my internet capabilities too. i went into safe mode and tried a couple of things to do that i read online but nothing helped or even pertained to my problem. so i don't really know what to do.

is it possible to just start from scratch with my laptop and assume it crashed and just start over by using the windows backup and recovery cds that came with my laptop? will it get rid of the virus? or do i have to do a malware scan and all of that stuff? it just seems complicated and i'm not sure i can fix it by myself. thanks for reading.

Download OTL by OldTimer to your Desktop.

• Close all windows and double click OTL.exe
  
• Click Run Scan and let the program run uninterrupted
  
• It will produce two logs for you, one will pop up - OTL.txt, the other will be saved on your Desktop - Extras.txt. Post both logs in this thread.
  
• You may need to use two posts to get it all.
  

ok thanks...i will try this after the superbowl.

but can i wipe out my drive and just start over if i wanted to?

Yes, but wiping it means losing everything if you don't backup what you want to keep.