Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: RejZoR on August 19, 2012, 01:24:05 PM
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avast! Cleanup Tool is a small program that will clean the remaining registry entries and files still left behind by avast! Antivirus uninstaller.
I was not satisfied with avast! uninstaller or aswClear so i made this one. It cleans everything official avast! tools leave behind. You still have to uninstall avast! first using official ways. Running this tool while avast! is still installed will NOT do anything!
As for the future, i sure hope that avast! team will improve uninstaller so that it will clean everything by itself without the need for my tool.
LINK:
http://www.rejzor.tk/2012/08/19/avast-cleanup-tool-1-0-released
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Nice .... i will bookmark that
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I take it you have sent a copy to some of the avast team, to see what needs to be sorted.
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That'd be RejZoR. Taking care of what ordinary sheep leave behind!
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I take it you have sent a copy to some of the avast team, to see what needs to be sorted.
Anyone can unpack it and check the BAT files.
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Yes they could, but that would rely on someone actually reading the topic and downloading it. A bit like updates push rather than pull.
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RejZoR, Danke for sure!!
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Hej RejZoR
It might be worth adding a note: "Not tested on XP" or something similar, rather than having to respond to every question.
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You can run it on WinXP, it might not clean everything but it can't do any harm either.
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Hmm Awesome. One thing I wonder is why don't the avast uninstaller remove all the avast registry entry's? I always thought it did..
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Bookmarked! :)
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"How good is avast?? check this link out! :
http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php/AV/VirusWeeklyStats"
from my understanding, Gdata uses the avast! engine, and they are both at the TOP of the list!
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Yes they could, but that would rely on someone actually reading the topic and downloading it.
I think like David.
We can't expect they read each thread of the forum and, like some others, could be lost in the forum jungle.
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Thank you for this tool RejZoR, nice work! :) I had an avast! folder(in user profile) that this tool cleaned out along with a few leftover registry keys.
@ avast@advantage77.com: A bit more info on those Shadowserver "tests" . http://kevtownsend.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/shadowservers-new-anti-virus-test-suite-%E2%80%93-how-good-is-it/
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Hmm Awesome. One thing I wonder is why don't the avast uninstaller remove all the avast registry entry's? I always thought it did..
That makes me wonder as well. If i can make a cleaner, why can't avast! uninstaller do the same by default? Stuff that it leaves behind is useless and has absolutely no purpose...
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I also can't understand why the existing avast uninstall utility has to ask what location avast was installed on, surely it should be able to detect that even if installed in a non standard location.
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Well, unless leftovers have a path stored (registry) you can't really do that. My tool only cleans default folder which is in 99% correct anyway. And only affects Program Files location. Everything else cannot be changed by user anyway. So in the worst case only things still left behind is the actual install folder if user picked something else than default location. Registry keys, user profile data and driver entries will still be cleaned. Anyone can delete program folder by hand if that is still left behind...
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Great tool guys, really makes this simple. I am unclear on one point.
1) uninstall avast! from "programs & Features"
2) then safe mode with aswclear
3) then avast! cleanup tool ******************** safe or normal mode?
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Frankly, after you uninstall avast! through programs and Features, you don't really need to run aswClear anymore....
Just uninstall avast! through programs and Features, reboot as requested by the avast! uninstaller and on next boot, run my tool in normal mode (no need for Safe mode). You also don't have to restart after cleaning with my tool.
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Hi Rejzor
Under win xp do we need asw clear.
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"How good is avast?? check this link out!: http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php/AV/VirusWeeklyStats" from my understanding, Gdata uses the avast! engine, and they are both at the TOP of the list!
Hmmm... And how is that related to this topic..?? ???
Anyway, thanks for this tool Rejzor..!! :)
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If i'm honest, i'm not sure if aswClear even does anything once avast! is already uninstalled...
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Oh, yeah! Were talkin' avast! here.
Rejzor, has anyone from Avast Software contacted you about your "tool"?
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I think that the reason they say to run the aswClear.exe uninstall utility from safe mode is, essentially if the standard uninstall fails, if that is the case then the self-defence module may still be running and block the uninstall utility.
I guess that they are hedging their bets to ensure it runs.
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Thanks for the handy program, RejZoR!
You seem to come up with such nice & helpful programs from time to time.
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Hi RejZoR, Thank you for your effort! Does your tool also clean Endpoint versions of Avast? Anyone else tested this?
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Pete and I are going to try it tomorrw. We are going to remove avast!, reboot, run avast! clean tool, reboot, then we are going to see if the "pete scrape" turns up any loose ends. We will try this on both avast! IS and avast! EPSP
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Good news. In trying to solve an issue with a non functioning avast! Outlook Spam plugin for EPSP 1456.
1) I removed all avast! plug-in's in Outlook
2) I uninstalled EPSP and rebooted
3) I used the "avast! clean tool" and rebooted
http://www.rejzor.tk/2012/08/19/avast-cleanup-tool-1-0-released
4) I then did a Pete scrape, and no "avast" and "Alwil" directories
5) Nothing in C:\Windows\temp
6) "Start, run, type "%temp%" and remove all" **** found an empty avast! directory here ****
7) I searched all hard disks for instances of "avast" and "Alwil" and found none
8) Found ZERO references to "avast" and "Alwil" in the registry
This tool worked perfectly on a default directory install of EPSP onj Windows 7 Pro x64. Next, Pete and I will try it on XP!
Rejzor, You are the MAN!
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avast@ advantage77
any word on how this works with XP Pro? thank you
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I looked at the reg delete list and according to this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100010/en-us?fr=1 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100010/en-us?fr=1) you should not delete keys from others controlsets than currentcontrolset. But I agree that there are some remaining things to delete.
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Well, if you enable hidden devices in Device Manager and uninstall those already uninstalled, system removes the entries in all ControlSet section. I just bypassed that and made it automatical because not many users are willing or be able to uninstal them one by one manually.
I don't really know why it shouldn't be removed from those as well. I've checked system folder for actual avast! drivers and there were none left after avast! uninstallation so references in registry to these (non existent) drivers make no sense.
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I will have this done by this time tomorrow, Pete has been delayed!
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I will have this done by this time tomorrow, Pete has been delayed!
thank you
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OK, now for Windows XP:
1) removed avast! from add/remove programs and rebooted (NIS 1426)
2) ran Rejzor avast! clean tool
3) HD search found an empty avast directory under C:\Windows\temp
4) %temp% found another avast folder that was empty
5) Under Hkey, current user, software, was CLEAN
6) Under Hkey, local machine, software, "avast, secure connect" LEFTOVER from clean tool, and was deleted. ******
SO to recap, after Rejzor avast! Clean Tool, there is 1 entry nder Hkey, local machine, software, "avast, secure connect" to delete!
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Just one very important question...is it safe? ???
I don't want to give another user this link if it has not been approved by Prague.
The final say should be from avast. :)
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Safe and approved by Prague are two completely different things. It doesn't have to be approved as such in the same way ccleaner and other registry cleaners, uninstallers don't have to be approved.
RejZoR has a long history on these forums of building utilities, so I don't doubt this can be safely be used in conjunction with avast.
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Safe and approved by Prague are two completely different things. It doesn't have to be approved as such in the same way ccleaner and other registry cleaners, uninstallers don't have to be approved.
RejZoR has a long history on these forums of building utilities, so I don't doubt this can be safely be used in conjunction with avast.
That isn't exactly what I wanted to know. I was not aware of his abilities. Thanks! :)
Personally though, for obvious reasons, I would still prefer some feedback from avast/Prague. :)
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I know it wasn't what you wanted to know but that is the real world. It may be safe, but getting approval from Prague/Avast Software I think is unlikely.
You have had some input from petr_matrix, but I somehow doubt that avast would give any formal approval as such, as that would in effect have some form of implied liability if there were any adverse effect.
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If I understand reply #18 correctly and I was a little too cryptic. What I was getting at is if it's a good as advertised this tool could be incorperated into aswclear.exe. :)
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Your not the only one that doesn't understand Reply #18 but I don't see how that relates to your question anyway.
Several of of have already suggested that the aswClear.exe could do with being updated to ensure it does remove all entries. This is why I suggested sending it directly to someone at avast rather than rely on waiting on someone to read the topic and download the tool.
However, as petr_matrix there are some registry entries that MS don't recommend removing, e.g. those not in the registries currentcontrolset branch. So since this is supposedly a MS recommendation (and I haven't the slightest idea why) then my guess is that avast would comply with that recommendation.
I haven't downloaded the tool to try and see exactly what it seeks to remove or what that is over and above what aswClear.exe does. The reason for that is that on the occasions that I have used aswclear it has done the job (as far as I can tell) to do a clean install. So my only question is one of necessity. is aswclear so bad as to need it and personally I don't know if that is the case, mainly because I can't compare the two directly.
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Well, it showed up everywhere:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/downloads/3328612/avast-cleanup-tool-10/
http://my.opera.com/rejzor/blog/2012/08/19/avast-cleanup-tool-1-0-released
http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/28081-avast_cleanup_tool
http://techdows.com/2012/08/download-avast-cleanup-tool-unofficial.html
You saw my testing! I will use it with Rejzor permission!
So, Rejzor, your Infamous!
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Many thanks RejZoR
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Thanks to all. Especially RejZoror! :)
Bookmarked. 8)