Can't remove/uninstall avast antivirus

[ClassyJakey]

Try System Restore, Sure that will work.

[bob3160]

Booted into safe mode, ran uninstaller, says it worked but also gives error.  Tried several times, will not uninstall.

What was the error

[Lisandro]

Booted into safe mode, ran uninstaller, says it worked but also gives error.  Tried several times, will not uninstall.

Any other antivirus installed (specially McAfee)?

[womble]

windows xp, sp3, firefox (latest)

i am having this problem and NONE OF THESE FIXES WORK.
avast (6 free) wont switch on, and wont uninstall, and it wont let me update to avast 7.
i cant unlock with anything, none of the dowlanoaded fixes from avast work, and am getting really tired of this.

last night in uninstalled using revo, the inbuilt uninstaller gave an error too, however it did appear to delete all associated folders,  however on a restart there was avast back on my bottom task bar!
i have tried using revo hunter mode, and various unlockers but to no avail.
i cant disable it from the start-up process either!

it wont uninstall, wont update, wont switch on, and wont delete NOTHING WORKS>
none of the tips, or "fix" downloads work, all give errors.

WHAT DO I DO, I WANT IT OFF MY SYETEM NOW!

[Lisandro]

last night in uninstalled using revo

Not good for antivirus and firewalls. On contrary, it messes.

WHAT DO I DO, I WANT IT OFF MY SYETEM NOW!

Boot in Safe Mode and run the avast uninstall tool from there.

[DavidR]

@ womble
Why won't any of the options work, e.g. what error messages are displayed ?
Without detailed information on what you have tried and any errors, etc. we are groping around in the dark.

What  options did you try as running the uninstall utility from safe mode is almost a cast iron certainty if you can boot into safe mode ?

[freddie43]

I have the same problems as Womble - I can't uninstall or reinstall
- it just stops, saying: 'Error reading product data from "C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\setup\". Setup cannot continue'

I downloaded aswclear.exe but it needs SAFE mode to run, and my safe mode doesn't work!

So here I am stuck! And I can't even use Syatem Restore to roll back to an earlier version - Avast seems to have clobbered that too!

I went to Control Panel | Admin Tools | Services | Properties and tried to disable Avast but despite me being the Administrator it wouldn't let me

I ran msconfig but was not allowed to remove Avast from the startup list (despite me being logged in as admin(

I have booted another sytem and deleted the Avast folder, but on trying to start up it just kept rebooting.
Is there any way to disable the startup options via the alternative system?
- this seems the best way forward
- where does msconfig find its info?

Finally I decided to upgrade to Avast 7 but I get the same error: 'Error reading product data from "C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\setup\". Setup cannot continue

And when I try to load the licence file it says: 'No valid licence content found'

Can anyone help?

[iroc9555]

I downloaded aswclear.exe but it needs SAFE mode to run, and my safe mode doesn't work!

You can run aswclear.exe in normal mode too. Just have to disable Avast! self-defence module first.

If F8 does not funtion for you, you can go into safe mode through msconfig. You seems to be running XP. See if one of this guide helps you to get into safe mode.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/#winxo

http://www.pchell.com/support/safemode.shtml

[freddie43]

Iroc

Many thanks for your post

I forgot to say that I couldn't disable self-defense mode
- whenever I went to Avast ! Settings ! Troubleshooting and reset it, it enabled again

Your link to how to get into SAFE mode was brilliant - how had I never heard of it?
In safe mode I was able to run aswclear.exe and it did the business

I deleted the avast folder, but maybe that was a mistake as the system won't boot - it just loops round and restarts!

I had saved the avast folder with my alternative boot system, so I restored it, but still no joy.

I think the time has now come to rebuild my system and upgrade to Win7

Thanks for your help - another trick for an old fella, but it leaves me puzzling over whether I can ever trust avast again!

Freddie

Greybeard retired programmer - programming computers since the dawn of time

[freddie43]

Oops!

I see what I did
- in my exhausted state still trying to fix this thing long after midnight
- I didn't uncheck 'SAFEBOOT
- but that doesn't explain why it just loops on the boot, not even getting into safe mode

[iroc9555]

Iroc

Many thanks for your post

I forgot to say that I couldn't disable self-defense mode
- whenever I went to Avast ! Settings ! Troubleshooting and reset it, it enabled again

Your link to how to get into SAFE mode was brilliant - how had I never heard of it?
In safe mode I was able to run aswclear.exe and it did the business

You are welcome.

[womble]

i did finally get avast 6 to uninstall with the avast uninstaller download. however all the things that messed up when it stopped working in the first place are still messed up on my pc. still cant system restore (i still have sufficient memory to do so, technically ) and a few other problems that began on the same day avast 6 crashed and stopped working.

and still cant get avast 7 to install!

on xp sp3, any further info on this one?

[REDACTED]

Hi guys,

I am also having trouble with Avast for the first time in my life and I have been using it for the past 5-6 years already on different machines. After a curiously bad custom installation (I only needed a file checker) that never completed for some reason, I am unable to uninstall it anymore. I tried reinstalling, which worked, but now I want to remove it completely from the system and it doesnt work.

Both the regular control panel uninstallation and the aswClear hang at exectly the same spot at:

"Launch executable file: C:\Program FIles\AVAST Software\Avast\wsc_proxy.exe /svc /unregister /firewall"

How do I remove it completely from the system aside from reformatting the OS? I do not have restore points. Thanks.