Leftover Antivirus Drivers?

Right now I have uninstalled Avast! to try Panda Cloud, mainly to compare performance. However, after uninstalling Avast!, I checked my non plug-and-play drivers in Device Manager, and all Avast!'s drivers are still there, as well as a ZoneAlarm and Zemana Anti-Logger driver.

Specifically there is
- aswFsBlk
- aswMonFlt
- aswRdr
- aswSnx
- aswSP
- avast! Network Shield Support

Also, there is Fs_Rec, which I'm not sure what security program it belonged to, but it is faded meaning whatever it belonged to was uninstalled.

And there is a2injectiondriver. I have EAM 6 installed, but is this an old driver no longer used? Because it is faded out as well.

Should these be left behind? Should I delete them?

 

Hey,

I would say that if you are 100% certain those drivers located at the Non-Plug & Play devices in the Device Manager belong to security software no longer installed on your PC it shouldn't cause any problems just right-clicking them and deleting 'em. A reminder: reboot your PC once you've done so.

I have yet to find an AV/Firewall or Security Suite that don't absolutely leave anything behind once uninstalled.

That's why I'd rather restore my computer HDD from an image than uninstalling one AV/FW and installing another.

Regards,

Carlos

 

Download avast!'s uninstall utility ( hxxp://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear.exe ) and run it in safe mode. Choose the version of avast! (4, 5, 6, ect) that you want to uninstall, and then run the tool, reboot and check your drivers again.

 

Already had done that. They were still there. I'm surprised some many security programs leave drivers behind. Isn't that usually why people have system problems after changing antiviruses?

 

Hi Brandonn2010

fs_rec.sys is Microsoft file system recognizer file

The filename is sometimes used by malware hidden in different locations on disk to disguise against detection

 

I have installed/uninstalled avast! many times, on many machines, and I have never seen even one driver left over. I have no idea what went wrong on your setup, but it's obvious something did.

 

I hate when that happens bothers the heck out of me.It sounds like it did not uninstall correctly.There is not to much software that does not leave junk behind.

 

You probably don't have set the device manager set to show non-present devices.

Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Environment Variables -> right-click the bottom box and enter the string devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices and give it number 1.

Then start the Device Manager and choose "Show hidden devices". Under Non-Plug and Play Drivers, you will now see the leftovers.

 

Nope, I had my device manager set correctly to view hidden drivers.

 

Then the obvious weird thing you mentioned that happened, happened on your setup, because security software, without exception (maybe Avira) leave stuff behind there.

 

Well from what I've deleted today and in the past, I think every security program I've tried has left some driver behind.

And actually I did get some error during uninstall for Avast! but even aswclear didn't remove them. I've reinstalled Avast! though after trying Panda Cloud and trying to try Avira, so it's doesn't matter now.

 

Formatting is your best friend, nothing like the smell of a fresh OS

 

Hmm.......you format and reinstall os to get rid of nasty malware or rootkit....you also format and reinstall os to get rid of anti-malware ......now that's a .. .. .... .

 

this thread got me checking for left overs. only found one so far.

 

Pretty much shows why it's best practice to reinstall/reimage before trying out a new antivirus.

 

I don't know about that, but I have been thinking of formatting and reinstalling, then downloading updates and installing drivers, then creating an image of that, rather than having to reinstall in the future and go through activation, but how does that work with a product key? Will I be able to use my Windows key again or will I have to talk to someone and have then make it good again?

 

Hey,

As long as you are re-installing Windows on the same hardware it was previously installed [ by same hardware, I mean the SAME computer], you should not have any problems at all.

However, if you try to “cheat” by installing the same Windows product key on a different hardware [different computer], you may need to call a MS representative to explain this to him/her so they would decide if they allow you to activate your copy of Windows.

HTH


Regards,


Carlos

 

Would having an image of a fresh installation that's been activated bypass all the BS?

 

You'll have to use your Windows key to reinstall, but that's about it. Very unlikely to need to use phone activation.

There's no need to activate Windows each time you restore from an image - it's already activated. That's part of the point of an image, it just continues from where you left off. Microsoft won't notice or have any reason to care even if they did.

 

Excellent. I may just keep an image then with just an updated Windows and my wireless adapter driver.

 

Yeah i do it every now and then

 

I am addicted to image the system here does not uninstall anything, just restore the image. I believe that this year alone I have restored my system more than 200 times...

It may sound crazy, but it is not!

Uninstall Antivirus is quite complicated, they make lots and lots of tracks on the computer.

 

To each his own but that would be almost every other day. I would only consider restoring an image as a last-resort option.

You need to go to security rehab with trjam

 

we're on the same boat