5 Windows tools to remove damaged antivirus programs

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Symantec, Freeware, Troubleshooting

5 Windows tools to remove damaged antivirus programs

by Lee Mathews Nov 11th 2008

One frustrating problem I have to fight with on customer computers is damaged antivirus and internet security program installs. Much of the time there's no simple way to get rid of them once something has gone wrong, and they can cause all kinds of headaches.

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

Tags: antivirus, malware, removal, uninstall

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dave said 1:34PM on 11-11-2008

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?

fulltext said 1:43PM on 11-11-2008

Careful with that Norton tool. It removes ALL Symantec/Norton products, including ACT and Winfax.

gatehead said 8:18PM on 11-11-2008

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 Mathews said 8:19PM on 11-11-2008

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 Jesus said 10:17PM on 11-11-2008

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

feeddle said 8:10AM on 11-12-2008

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 Price said 3:32PM on 11-12-2008

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.

feeddle said 8:50AM on 11-13-2008

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.

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