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5 Windows tools to remove damaged antivirus programs
Fortunately, some of the companies are good enough to provide uninstall tools to help us out.
McAfee: MCPR
While I was putting this post together, their web site starter throwing random errors at me. You should be able to download the remover from this page. If not, get it directly from McAffee or Softpedia.
Norton: Norton Removal Tool
Back when I first used SymNRT (the old name for this app), it did a pretty good job of cleaning things up. I'll warn you in advance: Norton Removal Tool will probably miss some files, folders, and registry keys. Still, it will at least get the program out of your way. It's availble through this Symantec article, or directly from the Symantec FTP or MajorGeeks. [download] and run a quick registry sweep to tidy up.
Kaspersky: KAVremover
If you know in advance to search for "kavremover," it's fairly easy to find on the Kaspersky web site. If not, it takes a little digging. This knowledge base article contains the download for the tool and step-by-step instructions.
Avast: ASWclear
I'm a fan of Avast, and recommend it all the time, but it still has trouble removing itself every now and then. Good guys that they are, they've got a nice, clear link to the uninstaller on their downloads -> programs page.
Avira: Registry Cleanup
While it won't help if the uninstaller won't run, Avira does at least provide a tool to get rid of leftovers in your registry. It's difficult to find on their site, so download it directly.
Bit Defender: Uninstaller
Thanks for the tip, Feeddle! The link above points directly to the removal tool, but you can get it from this page on BitDefender's knowledge base (if it's working, apparently).
If you're unable to find a tool made by the company that develops your antivirus solution, give Revo Uninstaller [download] a shot. Its Hunter Mode works well with broken installers - just make sure you exercise caution and follow its instructions. When it's all done, grab CCleaner
Comments
8
Subscribe to commentsDaveNov 11th 2008 1:34PM
Is this Norton Removal Tool the same as the old NoNAV? That little thing was really useful.
Any idea if this tool works on their corporate products?
fulltextNov 11th 2008 1:43PM
Careful with that Norton tool. It removes ALL Symantec/Norton products, including ACT and Winfax.
gateheadNov 11th 2008 8:18PM
The Norton Removal Tool doesn't work if you can't hit uninstall from Add/ Remove programs. which makes it really useless when something wipes out the Symantec folder and the uninstaller doesn't exist anymore
Lee MathewsNov 11th 2008 8:19PM
Are you sure? I used it to do that exact thing on a PC on Monday. Add/remove programs wouldn't work, so I used the Tool instead. I've done it several times, actually.
Doomsday JesusNov 11th 2008 10:17PM
gatehead is wrong. it doesn't matter if the norton uninstaller works or not. the norton removal was designed to remove failed and/or damaged installs
feeddleNov 12th 2008 8:10AM
There also a tool for BitDefender security products and ou can find it at: http://www.bitdefender.com/uninstall/
But for now it seems that their KB articles are being restructured and the file is unavailable.
Bryan PriceNov 12th 2008 3:32PM
I wonder if this works on password protected Norton installs.
I had an installation that I decided to rip out by the roots. I'm sure that there was an entry here or there in the registry that I missed. Oh well. And then three months later I had to nuke and reinstall from scratch anyway. I need to start getting paid for working on friends' stuff.
feeddleNov 13th 2008 8:50AM
You and me both buddy. :)
The thing with uninstallers is that they are supposed to clean ALL traces of a failed installation or a product gone bad. Many of these tools/cleaners often fail to remove all the information.
I think mainly this happens because the tool is way too old for the product you are trying to scrap off the PC.