avast ;cant uninstall it

[Cercyon]

I tried the free avat antivirus and its locking up evrything. It will not let me uninstall. I go to add/ remove and it does nothing. Any ideas how i can get rid of this thing??

[Eldar]

Hi Cercyon & welcome to Wilders, :D {QUOTE-> I tried the free avat antivirus and its locking up evrything. It will not let me uninstall. I go to add/ remove and it does nothing. Any ideas how i can get rid of this thing?? <-QUOTE}Have a look at the avast! uninstall utility (http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html).

What antivirus did you use previously, because that could explain the problems you're having right now. :-\

[RejZoR]

I bet it was Norton or McAfee :P Otherwise this official uninstall tool should do the trick. Let us know how it went :)

[Cercyon]

{QUOTE-> I bet it was Norton or McAfee :P Otherwise this official uninstall tool should do the trick. Let us know how it went :) <-QUOTE}

Actually it was AVG free.
I was going to try avast since so many raved about it and the reviews seem good. BIG MISTAKE!!!I uninstalled avg before downloading but it still screwed up bad.
It got so bad that it kept giving me connection errors and cant finish installing because its already running which it was not. Locked up my system and finally crashed it. I got a black screen with the message, cant start windows because win32 is corrupted.i had to contact dell and get a semi wipe. I have started over from the first day they delivered it which means a lot of my files are now lost.

Anyway, now my system is running and I got trend micro system suite running. No more of these 'free" av's for me.

p.s. i had norton a year ago and it was more of a virus itself. took a computer shop 4 hours to clear it out and it did not detect well anyway.

Thanks for the tool .:)

[Tarq57]

Actually, I think the mistake was uninstalling one AV (any AV) before downloading another. (If in fact that's what you really did.)
All those symptoms sound like malware attempting (successfully) to thwart an enemy.
A recommended procedure: Download what you want to try, save it, disconnect from the net, uninstall the old, reboot, install the new,reboot if instructed, reconnect, update.
Never a problem with Avast, here.

[RejZoR]

I hardly think avast! could ever do that... there has to be something else happening on your system at the same time you were installing avast!.

[Eldar]

{QUOTE-> Actually it was AVG free.
I was going to try avast since so many raved about it and the reviews seem good. BIG MISTAKE!!!I uninstalled avg before downloading but it still screwed up bad. <-QUOTE}Nor AVG, nor Avast will screw up your PC.

My guess they did something wrong at that shop.
BTW Removing Norton with SymNRT doesn't take 4 hours, at the very least 30 minutes and you can do it yourself, so it doesn't cost you anything. :)
My laptop came with Norton, but I removed it immediately at home and installed KIS afterwards.
Never had a problem with Avast, which was the first to replace Norton on my desktop. Nor with any other AV I tried out in my snapshots. 8)

Or like Tarq57 said, there's something else going on.{QUOTE-> Anyway, now my system is running and I got trend micro system suite running. No more of these 'free" av's for me. <-QUOTE}Free is certainly not bad, but my personal choice is to pay for it, like I did for Avast Pro, BitDefender & KAV/KIS.
{QUOTE-> Thanks for the tool .:) <-QUOTE}My pleasure Cercyon. ;)

[divedog]

Have you tried to remove it in safe mode?

[ccsito]

{QUOTE-> I bet it was Norton or McAfee :P Otherwise this official uninstall tool should do the trick. Let us know how it went :) <-QUOTE}

I replaced McAfee VirusScan with Antivir on a desktop and the uninstall/install process went without any hitch at all and I replaced Norton AV with Antivir on a laptop and the process went without a hitch too. :thumb:

[Carzpurzkey]

{QUOTE-> I tried the free avat antivirus and its locking up evrything. It will not let me uninstall. I go to add/ remove and it does nothing. Any ideas how i can get rid of this thing?? <-QUOTE}
:dry: Terminate the process "avast.setup" in the task manager,than uninstall it as normal!

[zzfranczz]

I installed Avast as well. My comp was working perfectly before and once I installed it the performance of my computer took a hit. It locks up all the time and stutters. So a few days later I de-installed it and now I still have issues with the performance of my computer. I do not know what it did but it messed up my computer and I am here looking for solutions. How do I know it was Avast. From the moment I installed it it bunked up my computer. I de installed it and rolled my computer back and the computer is still performing badly.

Cercyon, I am responding to let you know I am in the same boat. I have scanned my computer so many times thinking I may have malware but each time it comes up clean. Avast sunk my computer as it did yours. Not certain how I can help you since I myself am looking for answers as well. Not certain what to do but it sounds like a lot of people are in disbelief that Avast could do this.

Anyway if some one can help please do, there is more than one that it happened to and it is Avast. My suspicion is something to do with the database updater is still scanning the system and looking for updates but I can not prove it nor do I know what I am looking for. I would apreciate the help as well.

Thanks

[Arup]

Ancient dual XEON 850 with 512MB RAM running fine on Avast for years, so is my latest quad core running on 2003x64 with Avast 64, day in, day out no problems.

[innerpeace]

zzfranczz, what security programs were you running before you installed Avast? Did you uninstall anything prior to installing Avast? What programs were you running when you had Avast installed? What version of Windows are your running? Do you have any leftover processes running from Avast or any other uninstalled software. I personally have had no problems with Avast and that is why I keep it. Of course not everyones system is the same.

[luciddream]

{QUOTE-> I installed Avast as well. My comp was working perfectly before and once I installed it the performance of my computer took a hit. It locks up all the time and stutters. So a few days later I de-installed it and now I still have issues with the performance of my computer. I do not know what it did but it messed up my computer and I am here looking for solutions. How do I know it was Avast. From the moment I installed it it bunked up my computer. I de installed it and rolled my computer back and the computer is still performing badly.

Cercyon, I am responding to let you know I am in the same boat. I have scanned my computer so many times thinking I may have malware but each time it comes up clean. Avast sunk my computer as it did yours. Not certain how I can help you since I myself am looking for answers as well. Not certain what to do but it sounds like a lot of people are in disbelief that Avast could do this.

Anyway if some one can help please do, there is more than one that it happened to and it is Avast. My suspicion is something to do with the database updater is still scanning the system and looking for updates but I can not prove it nor do I know what I am looking for. I would apreciate the help as well.

Thanks <-QUOTE}

The problem with this logic is that if it was all Avasts fault, it would happen to EVERYBODY. Avast has a very good reputation and the vast majority of users have no such problems. Therefore, logically one would come to the conclusion that the problem lies elsewhere, such as a compatibility issue, possibly between Avast and something else on your computer (but not their fault solely). 99% of the time this is the case when people come in here blasting a certain software (unfairly) for ruining their computer.

This is why you can't take anybodies advice on security software, you have to experiment and find out what works for your particular setup. Different strokes for different folks. If it's not working for you, don't use it. My son uses Avast Home with Comodo Pro 2.4 & Prevx 2, and it all works perfectly fine together... and all are "free". There is nothing wrong with free software provided it performs it's essential job functions.

[Kerodo]

Yep, I'll throw in my 2 cents too, and say that I doubt the problem lies with Avast, it's something else going on with the PC. I have used Avast for years before without ever experiencing any problems like that.

[JerryM]

I have uses Avast Home for years of and on. It is the AV I use when I am not sure what I want at the time. Accordingly I have installed and removed it numerous time. It has always uninstalled easily and without a single problem.

I would not argue with anyone as to what is going on with their system, but I hesitate to believe that Avast is the problem in this instance.

Best,
Jerry

[Firefighter]

{QUOTE-> I tried the free avast antivirus and its locking up evrything. It will not let me uninstall. I go to add/ remove and it does nothing. Any ideas how i can get rid of this thing?? <-QUOTE}Just do nothing. You have got the one, just keep it. Nothing more secure thing with an av you just can't get on the other hand! ;)

Best regards,
Firefighter!

[Perman]

Hi, folks: Having a fatal errors with Avast uninstallation is like telling everyone the sky is falling; too scary to be true. During my short few years with pc, I have tested many AV's; installing them and then uninstalling them again due to whatever the reasons are. Avast is the ONLY one that I can navigate in and out of installation w/o any troubles. The OP has said the he has installed Trend Micro Suite w/o any problems, but having a heart-broken issue with Avast. This theory just does not fly with me. Perhaps he knows smoothing majority of Avast users never have come across. These are just my loonie senses. Hope I am deadly wrong here. Have a nice day.

[JerryM]

It sounds to me like maybe the TM suite did not get removed completely, and there is a conflict there.
It would be worthwhile to also post the problem on the Avast forums.

Regards,
Jerry

[the Tester]

I have installed and uninstalled Avast and never had trouble.
It sounds like Jerry may be right.
A possible uninstall conflict with another av?

As for the second poster reporting a problem with the Avast uninstall...
If you are on XP look for services in Control Panel>Performance and Maintenance>Administrative Tools>Services.
I believe that the updater would be listed as "Avast!AVS4 Contr...."
The only other Avast! service that is set to automatic is "Avast! Antivirus".

[zzfranczz]

To clarify a few things. I did not have an AV program prior so it was a clean install. I was not running any other program when I installed Avast. I am running a fully patched version of XP Pro.

I could not find anything in the services so no clues there.

The kicker is that I used the utility above to remove AV again and my problem has since cleared up.

Now I do not doubt that Avast has a good product it may just be incompatible with mine and other peoples rigs. AV products are just as slick as virus's these days and they need to use every trick in the book to not get knocked out by a virus. I think my problem is not just an Avast problem, but most developers do not uninstall everything and leave a clean system leave some residual stuff that may cause issues.

I am glad I found this forum. It solved my issue and gave me a reason to come back and check the discussion.

Thanks