As a technical support guy, one of the most common problem that I normally see on a user’s computer is that they install more than one antivirus software on their computer. Using more than one antivirus should logically give a better detection but this is not the case because they could conflict with each other during scanning and detection. There are also cases that a particular antivirus is not compatible with the setup and causing weird problems. Fortunately the solution is pretty simple and all you need to do is uninstall the antivirus and install a different one which hopefully would work better on the system.
Antivirus are complex software that installs drivers, services and comes with codes which protects itself and the registry from unauthorized modification by malwares. The proper way of uninstalling an antivirus is from the Windows Control Panel but there are times when the uninstallation process fails halfway which leaves you stuck. You cannot reinstall or uninstall and the antivirus is unusable. Antivirus companies are aware of this problem, hence they created removal tools/uninstallers which will force the uninstallation of the antivirus software.
There are more than 100 brands of antivirus today and most of the major brand provides the uninstallers. Downloading and collecting all uninstallers that you can find is quite a hassle but it is required because of my job.
Thanks to Uninst.RU, they have consolidated all of the antivirus uninstallers and named it AV Uninstall Tools Pack. All you need to do is download the 50+MB ZIP file and extract it to your computer or to a USB flash drive. It currently has 38 uninstallers plus 1 very useful tool called Windows Installer Clean Up Utility.
avast! Antivirus Removal Tool AVG Remover Utility Avira RegistryCleaner BitDefender Uninstall Tool BullGuard Uninstaller CA Internet Security Suite Uninstaller Tool Dr.Web Remover eScan Removal Tool ESET Uninstaller F-PROT Remover F-Secure Uninstallation Tool G Data AntiVirus Cleaner K7 Security Product Removal Tool KAV Removal Tool Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Cleanup Utility Max SpywareDetector Uninstaller McAfee CleanUp Tool Microsoft Security Essentials Uninstaller Norman Uninstaller nProtect Security Platform 2007 Remover Outpost Clean Panda Uninstaller PC Tools ThreatFire Removal Prevx Removal Tool QuickHeal Removal Tool SPAMfighter Remove SUPERAntiSpyware Application Uninstaller Symantec – Norton Removal Tool Trend Micro Verizon – Radialpoint Security Uninstall Utility Vexira Uninstall VIPRE cleaner VirusBuster Clean Webroot Windows Live OneCare Cleanup Tool Zondex Guard EraseAv ZoneAlarm – Check Point Install Utility
Run the Autorun.exe and you will be presented with a simple graphical user interface with Russian language by default. You can click on the English at the left hand sidebar to change the language to English. Clicking on any of the titles will provide further information on what specific products are supported and also the operating systems. Click the OPEN link will open up the folder to the uninstaller which you have to manually run.
AV Uninstall Tools Pack doesn’t have advance features such as auto detecting the installed antivirus on your computer and recommending the correct uninstaller but it is still a very useful time saving pack. This tool pack is currently planned to be updated in monthly basis. When I extract the tools pack, Avira found that the CA Desktop DNS Migrator (DNA_MIGRTR-UNST.exe) uninstaller contained a virus or unwanted program which I am sure is a false detection.