Help. need to uninstall Webroot Firewall

[Tony49122]

Hi,
I tried Online Armour Free and it installed and ran fine. There was just a hint of added lag on the laptop so I uninstalled online armour and tried Webroot desktop firewall. WDF installed fine and ran after reboot. I ran Registry Mechanic to cleanup after all the installations/uninstallation. But the next time I started the laptop, it wouldn't start. Windows XP just sat there with the black windows XP screen that appears during boot before the desktop appears. I started up in safe mode (no networking), it started fine. So good sign.

I have a Symantec Ghost 12 rescue disk, so booted off that and did a check disk. It found some errors on the disk and repaired them. The I rebooted in normal mode and Windows more or less started up. There was a message about egui.exe not being able to start (Acer network management). No sign of WDF on the task bar or in the process list in Task Manager. But I don't have neither LAN or Wifi connection. I want to remove WDF but neither the uninstall nor Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs will uninstall. Windows reports the webroot msi file is missing. I tried to re-install using the 3.4 MB WDF download install program, but it reports the webroot msi program is missing. So can't uninstall or re-install.

Question, how to remove WDF given my situtuation. I made a Ghost backup of the c: drive to an external harddrive before trying the firewalls, but the check sum on the archive is bad, so I can't restore the C: drive to the state pre-testing of firewalls.

thanks,
-Tony

Acer 6492 laptop with Windows XP SP2
Intel Core 2 duo T7100
2 GB RAM, 75 GB in C: partition
AV: Nod32
antispyware: Spysweeper

[dave88]

Did you run registry mechanic after uninstalling, but before restarting?
If so that is probably where it went wrong, you should do a restart after uninstalling software before running a registry cleaner.

Can you undo the changes that reg mechanic did? That would be my first try.

[dmenace]

It sounds like a complicated problem requiring bit by bit removal of Webroot.

However start by:

1) Download Startup Control Panel (http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml).

This small utility will help you remove any startup entries left behind by Webroot.

2) Run regedit and delete the Webroot key in HKLM>Software

3) Delete the Webroot Folder in Program Files.

4) Search for webroot and delete any other files/folders that remain.

5) Use CCleaner to delete any other temp install files

This is by no means a comprehensive step by step removal of Webroot. For that, contact Webroot support.

You might want to download the latest Webroot installer and install the firewall again and then uninstall it. This way you can remove Webroot properly. If you cant install, try the steps above.

[Hairy Coo]

Edit;

MSI is the Microsoft installer package,try downloading a fresh WDF package,which will have this missing installer/uninstaller

Reinstall Webroot and use RevoUninstaller for uninstalling-this will take out all traces including registry entries.

From memory MSI doesnt work in safe mode-but you could try if necessary.

http://www.revouninstaller.com/uninstall_delete_remove_programs.html

Try to install in same location as before.

Possibly RegMechanic cleaned up the original MSI-you could also try a restore.

.

[Tony49122]

Hi folks,
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Dave88. Regarding order of using Registry Mechanic: affirmative, I uninstalled Online Amour. Rebooted. Installed WDF. It ran fine in the session after reboot. Then I restarted laptop next day, it ran fine then if I recall, I ran Registry Mechanic. On reboot, the egui.exe error came up and loss of connectivity.

I tried rolling back Registry Mechanic to a stored restore point. Thanks for the suggestion, it eliminated all the popup error boxes and the laptop runs normally except for an Internet connection. While I can see and partly connect to my router and some of the open ones in the neighbourhood, I get "limited or no connectivity" message. I get a "media disconnected" message and an IP address of "169.254...". I've run through all the settings but am able to acquire an IP address. Oddly, a dial-up connection works just fine, I get an IP address (guess it's the phone modem doing that) and I can surf and do email just fine. Must be my built in NIC card or settings. I have two wifi routers tried at different times. No internet connection when connected to a router by ethernet cable either.

While the Ghost image I have on hand is corrupt, I have another at home made prior to this road trip. My aim is to get through the next few days on the road then I'll try restoring the C: drive image I made a few days ago. If the image doesn't work, I'll try the steps to manually remove WDF.

I broke my cardinal rule #1. Don't twiddle with the computer or install new software when on the road!! Must resist, must resist...

thanks,
-Tony

[Hairy Coo]

You also broke cardinal rule no.2-not reading all the posts!

The problem seems to be that you have deleted the Webroot installer/ uninstaller ie MSI,so obviously you cant at present uninstall or install using the old download.

All you needed to have done is download a FRESH copy of WDF,instal and uninstall,but now it looks such a mess-who knows.

[Tony49122]

Affirmative, the laptop was a mess. I printed out all the posts and downloaded all the suggested software. Rolling back the registry got my machine working again, well enough I could limp through my meetings until I got home. I didn't want to risk messing up the laptop anymore so left it at that, but good to know about the other utilities. I've since reloaded the ghost image of the C: drive and the laptop is working fine again.

I re-downloaded Webroot Desktop Firewall and installed it. I'm happy to report WDF seems to be working fine, no noticeable impact on Windows XP, no hiccups.

Thanks again folks for your suggestions.
-Tony

My current protection collection, all apparently working without conflicts:
ESET NOD32
Webroot Spysweeper
Webroot Desktop Firewall