Cannot shut down, restart, or log off iMac

I have an iMac with OS 10.5.2. I use the Virus Barrier virus protection program and have not had any problems with it. However, immediately after installing the latest Virus Barrier update, my computer began acting strangely.
Most importantly, since that time I have not been able to shut down, restart, or log off my computer. When I try to take any of these actions, I get the standard message box asking, for example, "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?" I click on "Shut down" and the desktop icons and the menu bar disappear but then nothing at all happens. Sometimes, after a while, I may get a message saying that the action "timed out." I then click on the Finder icon on the dock, and the desktop icons and menu bar reappear. I've tried force-quitting the Finder, but that did not work. Even if I manually shut off the power, when I turn it back on, the desktop immediately appears without the usual beep and without going through the normal startup procedures. It seems that even when I turn off the power manually, the computer itself does not actually shut down.
Additionally, my screen saver no longer works. Although I have it set to come on automatically, it never does.
I contacted Virus Barrier support which advised me to uninstall the program. I did, but that did not help the problem. I've tried "Repair Disk Permissions" in the Disk Utility application, but that did not help either.
Apart from the above, I still seem to be able to use the programs on my computer with no problem.
Does anyone have any idea what is causing this problem and what I can do about it?
Thank you.

DO NOT JUST PULL THE PLUG! Press and hold the power button until it shuts down fully. This can take several seconds. Once you are sure the fans are off, click the mouse a couple of times to make sure there is no response, then you can pull the plug, to be sure.
I suggest that you then start up in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key as soon as you hear the chime. The OS should start in the normal fashion, except you will see a Safe Boot legend.
Once you've logged in, bin the Finder .plist as suggest, and I'm make sure that all the Virus Barrier files are well and truly gone as well. Don't forget to check /Library/StartupItems and ~/Library/StartupItems. Once you reboot, things should be back to normal.
As suggested, AV programs are pretty much a waste of CPU on a Mac. If you really must have one, I recommend ClamXAV. Apart from anything else, it's free.

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