Help getting rid of AntiVir

I recently installed AntiVir version 7 (or rather, updated it from previous version). Problems started. Boot time was increased by ten seconds or so, I could no longer access My Computer or Control Panel. I can click them, but nothing happens. It's as if there was a hidden scanner "scanning" those files I click. After waiting several hours, everything returns to normal state.

I deleted AntiVir, so there is no folder in program files folder. Also search on "antivir" on registry edit gave nothing. What could be the problem?

System specs:
Win XP
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
512 RAM
Radeon 9600 PRO

Software:
Sygate Personal Firewall Pro
Ad-Aware
Microsoft Anti-spyware
Spyware Doctor
Registry Mechanic
Daemon Tools, IsoBuster,

 

Ever heard for Add/Remove Programs feature?

 

You've definitely got some problems other than AntiVir

 

I have had the situation installing antivir 7 (when it was still beta) that it did not show in add/remove programes.It might be wise to reinstall antivir7 (assuming that it will let you) and if the add remove entry is missing ,then click setup.exe in the antivir directory folder.It will offer you the choice of modifying or uninstalling.
ellison

 

- I did uninstall it through add/remove...

It's just that my options are kind of limited here. I can't for instance open .pdf files without crashing Adobe Reader application.

 

- Have you actually used the program? It clearly says:
"
Guard
Scan
Description
If this option is enabled, the Guard scans a file when writing. You can only access the file again after this process has been completed."

You have three options for this one:
1. Scan when reading
2. Scan when writing
3. Scan when reading and writing

Any option will take approximately four hours to finish, so yeah, I have a problem.

How does this look to you?
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7131/screen17ps.jpg
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/5751/screen29tx.jpg <--- Where is file menu?
http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/1771/screen31zf.jpg <--- oh, I found it!
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2596/screen42ar.jpg <--- try and uninstall this.

 

Seems you have somehow bungled things up pretty good. I would do as someone already mentioned and reinstall it, then uninstall it using Add/Remove Programs. After that's done, look for any leftover files and also remove any related items from Hidden Devices where there are typically a few entries. Right click on My Computer, then select Manage, then Devices, and in the View menu click Show Hidden Devices. This will let you see what AntiVir has installed, and you can then remove this stuff also. If that doesn't do it, then you may have other problems unrelated to AntiVir and/or might need to reformat etc..

 

If you've deleted the complete AntiVir folder there's no way the thing is still running. But maybe you could have told people here about your spyware infested system, as you did in the antivir forum.

Your problem isn't AntiVir, your problem is that your system is completely ****ed.

BTW the windows way to uninstall software is via START->SETTINGS->CONTROL PANEL-> ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE

And if that doesn't show in your install, you can still start the setup.exe in the antivir directory. The screenshot of the AntiVir Start menu entries is correct, they did not MISS the uninstall, they do not intend it to be there, to avoid people uninstalling it by accident....

 

BTW adobe reader crashing (especially when opening pdfs in the browser) on some systems is a well known problem of adobe....

 

You have XP, so why not do a system restore to before all these problems started? Assuming you have not disabled that too.

 

On a daily basis, my friend. I've never had a problem with it at all, therefore, you have another problem

If you can't remove it with add/remove and you've deleted the folders, I recommend running Resplendent Registrar and removing all "Antivir" and "Avira" entries from the registry.

 

- It has spawned a scanner on the very root folder. That's what I believe, since it's scanning files even before Windows has loaded on start-up.

- Which is because of AntiVir. I did not have this problem before I updated to version 7.

- Please read my previous post.

 

Can you say "reformat"?

 

I'll try to be more precise with the problem:

- I had no problems prior to upgrading AntiVir to version 7
- Everything that works, works perfectly.
- By "not being able to access" I mean after double-clicking My Computer, cursor turns to Working in Backround for a few seconds and then returns to normal. My Computer is not opened.
- I can access all files in desktop and Internet browsers.
- I can run everything through Start->Command->
- While "scanning", explorer.exe is taking 99% of processing power and everything turns very slow or system hangs.
- After this "scan" is completed, everything returns to its normal state. I can access everything normally.
- I'm not entirely sure what actions trigger scanning. Ad-Aware hangs when its trying to scan shared DLL's. PDF files opened through Internet browser hangs Adobe Reader.
- I think it's highly unlikely this is because of viruses/spyware, since AntiVir clearly has qualities that match this problem (as seen in the posted screenshot).

I have now installed and uninstalled AntiVir through Add/Remove. I deleted all relevant registry entries containing "antivir" or "h+bedv". There is no AntiVir folder in program files.

 

Well, if you've done what you can do, and also asked on the AntiVir forum, then you may eventually have to face the real possibility of a reformat, no joking. Sometimes things happen. You get that piece of software that just doesn't like or work with the rest of your system, and things get hosed somehow. As unpleasant as the prospect seems, a reformat (if possible) will usually solve ALL problems, provided you don't make the same mistakes over again. It sounds like you might be getting to this point soon if all else fails..

 

- *sigh* You may be right. This sucks. Companies like Avira shouldn't even exist.

I have two harddiscs (those physical units) and three drives (like c:\ d:\ e:\). If I recall correctly, only drive c: should be in other disc. How can I check it? Does format only remove files from disc that holds operating system? If so, my scenario looks better, as I have tried to keep drive c: as empty as possible both for better performance and reformatting purpose. But what about all the programs in D-drive? Can I still use them after format?

 

In my case, I have one HD partitioned into 3 drives, c, d and e. I keep Drive C small, 10 gigs for just Windows and programs only. The other 2 drives are for data and storage mostly. So... a reformat for me only cleans off drive C and formats it, then puts the OS back on. I use Win2k, but XP should be the same. If you have programs installed onto other drives then that makes it a little stickier. I would probably try to remove all that too, since when you put the OS back on, anything installed on other drives will be useless anyhow. So you may want to clean up on the other drives also. I am not expert in this area, but I do reformat fairly often, or have in the past anyway. It's the only real way to get a nice clean system back again after something has gone very wrong. Now what I do is reformat once, then do an image of C drive and the OS right after reinstall, putting the image files on anothe drive. So now, if I have unfixable problems, a quick 10 minute restore and I'm clean again.

PS - You can't really be too judgemental of AntiVir. I have it installed here with zero probs, as I suspect is the case for many people, although I do acknowledge that some folks have had trouble with v7 these past few months. I think what you do, however, run into is conflicts with various products on various systems, and sometimes there's just no telling what can and/or will happen. I have seen firewalls do some pretty wild damage before too. If you experiment with AVs and firewalls, it's best to be prepared for the worse.

 

Try installing it again, then uninstalling it. Sounds crazy, but it just might work! Also, if you run prefetch, clear out the folder. I've tried AntiVir 7 Premium, and it uninstalled as clean as a whistle with just one registry entry.

 

Are you per chance having any virtual cd drives, or removable media attached ? There are known incompatibilities between some bugged versions of clonecd / alcohol 120% etc, after all they install rootkit-like stuff on your computer.

As I said, this might be completely unrelated. I have seen that problem at least on a dozen systems (all of which i switched to use foxit pdf viewer).

Not as unlikely as you may think. You might want to post a hijackthis log in here, so folks can have a look at what is running on your system.

So where the heck is your installation, and how the hell did it get there Please have a look (if you can't find it manually, have a look at the start menu links properties).

 

Hi all...

I had a reply that took me about 15-20 minutes to write and was fairly long and after trying to submit the post, Wilders servers seemed to have FORGOTTEN I was logged on in the first place and I lost all that I had written I'm not going to rewrite everything.

Having to put in a username and password is a pain in the butt to begin with but at least, the very least, can we have servers that FUNCTION CORRECTLY??



Best Regards...

 

Works fine on my end...

 

- I had Alcohol 120% and IsoBuster. Possibly something else too, since I seemed to have two virtual CD drivers (one with unconfigurable CD placed )

Thank you everyone for your help. After another install-uninstall of AntiVir it only got worse and I could do nothing on my desktop. I decided to format my C: drive and reinstall Windows. No more scanning for me

 

Well you'd have no problems if you'd use Add-Remove programs panel in the first place...