Running two antivirus products on the same computer can cause system instability, degraded performance and maybe the inability to identify a virus correctly. I’ve even heard of a case where someone managed to install as many as 3 antivirus on his computer and yet no problems. I would say he is just plain lucky and one day the antivirus will conflict and give so much trouble that he won’t be able to recover Windows from the crash. It is very important that any previously installed antivirus software is uninstalled from your system before proceeding with the installation of the next antivirus that you would like to install.
The standard method of uninstalling an antivirus is from Add or Remove Programs but sometimes the uninstallation process would hang and you won’t be able to remove the antivirus from your system. When this happen, you can try using the removal tool provided by the antivirus company to remove the installed antivirus. I always have a list of uninstallers for antivirus software on my USB flash drive. Here I am sharing with you guys my list and perhaps it could help you uninstall an antivirus program that you’re having trouble uninstalling..
Most of the uninstallers below are very straight forward. Just download, run the file and click a button to proceed with the uninstallation. Some is a little more complicated and requires more steps which I’ve noted.
1. avast!
Special note: Boot Windows to Safe Mode and run the uninstall utility.
[ Download avast! Uninstall Utility ]
2. AVG
[ Download AVG Remover 32-bit | 64-bit ]
3. Avira
Special Note: Avira doesn’t have a removal tool but they do provide a registry cleaner to remove traces of Avira so that you can reinstall and then uninstall. This tool is in German, you’ll have to click on the button called “Keys auslesen” to search the registry for any issues. Then place checkmarks next to the registry entries you wish to delete and click the “Löschen” button to delete the keys.
4. BitDefender
[ Download BitDefender Uninstall Tool 32-bit | 64-bit ]
5. Computer Associates
Special Notes: Computer Associates uninstaller requires internet connection to verify and download the full version of uninstaller.
[ Download CA SupportBridge for 2008 | 2009 products ]
6. ESET
Special Note: This is an unofficial dutch language ESET removal tool.
7. F-Secure
Special Note: The uninstaller will automatically reboot the computer without warning.
[ Download F-Secure Removal Tool ]
8. Kaspersky
[ Download Kaspersky Anti-Virus Remover ]
9. McAfee
[ Download McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool ]
10. Windows Live OneCare
[ Download Windows Live OneCare Cleanup Tool ]
11. Norton / Symantec
[ Download Norton Removal Tool ]
12. G DATA
[ Download G DATA AV-Cleaner ]
13. Panda Security
[ Download Panda Security Uninstaller ]
14. Trend Micro
Special Notes: After download, extract and run TISTOOL.exe file. Click the Uninstall tab, and then click the Uninstall button. Select the Trend Micro program that you’d like to uninstall from the drop down box and click Uninstall.
[ Download Trend Micro Diagnostic Toolkit 32-bit | 64-bit ]
15. AppRemover
Special Note: AppRemover is an unofficial tool to uninstall security applications such as antivirus and antispyware from your computer. Other than able to support removal some of the antivirus above, it can also uninstall Spy Sweeper, Trend Micro PC-Cillin, SpyCatcher, Sophos, SpyBot, Spyware Doctor, Norman, Spyware BeGone, Ad-aware, Bazooka Scanner, SpywareBlaster, eEye Blink, ClamWin, CheckPoint, BullGuard, RISING and AhnLab V3 VirusBlock.
Phew that was long. I had this in my WordPress draft for many many months but didn’t have the time to finish it until today 😉