How to truly uninstall Symantec/Norton products so Avast will work properly

[undrline]

Hopefully the moderators will add this to the FAQ or, at least, make a sticky for this forum.  I love Avast.  I use the Home Edition having switched from an old version of NAV Corporate Edition.  I have helped others to switch to Avast Home Edition as well, and they also switched from various Symantec/Norton products.  Symantec/Norton (let's just say N/S for future reference) products are a bugger to remove, and Avast knows that traces of them are still there and may, at any point, activate and freeze your system.  So, Avast gives you the Incompatibility Warning, and disables some, if not all of the service protections it offers.  Here is how to truly uninstall Symantec/Norton products so Avast will work properly:

This applies to PCs only.  It should work for any N/S product or version.  Assumes you have already installed Avast and are getting an incompatibility warning when you start your machine.  Assumes you want to remove ALL N/S products from your machine.

1) Uninstall your N/S product the normal way, via
Start>[Settings]>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs

2) If it still exists, delete the folder(s) that contained the N/S product(s).
examples:

• C:\Program Files\Symantec
• C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus
• C:\Program Files\Nav NT
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec
• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec

3) Get the "Symantec Uninstall Utility" available from their site:
Windows NT/XP/Vista: ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe
Windows 9x/ME: ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool_9x.exe
Before you run it, right-click Avast, and tell it to stop on-access protection.  Close all open windows and any running programs that you can.
It will make you restart your machine.  If you don't get the incompatibility warning anymore, you're finished, otherwise, continue.

4) WARNING: This next portion is not for the faint of heart; in the next steps you will edit the Windows registry. Back up the registry before you make any changes to it, because incorrect changes to the registry can result in permanent data loss or corrupted files. Modify only the registry keys that are specified.  Editing the registry can ruin your computer; DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I found this information at Symantec's site: Source 1, Source 2
Anecdotally, I have found that this works for all versions.

Because the above steps were followed, there should be no need to do this, but, just in case:
Start>Run>type "services.msc" (without the quotes)>OK
Look for and Stop/Disable any services related to N/S products:
* SAVRoam
* Symantec AntiVirus
* Symantec AntiVirus Definition Watcher
* Norton AntiVirus
* Norton AntiVirus Definition Watcher
* Symantec Event Manager
* Symantec Settings Manager
* SAVRoam
* Symantec AntiVirus
* Symantec AntiVirus Definition Watcher
* Symantec Event Manager
* Symantec Network Drivers Service
* Symantec Network Proxy
* Symantec SecurePort
* Symantec Settings Manager

Start>Run>type "regedit" (without the quotes)>OK

Delete these KEYS, if they exist.  A lot of them won't exist.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\LDVPMenu
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\DllUsage\VP6
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ccEvtMgr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ccSetMgr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ccPwdSvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ccProxy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\DefWatch
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NAVENG
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NAVEX15
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SAVRoam
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SCSRT
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SAVRTPEL
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SNDSrvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SPBBCDrv
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SPBBCSvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Symantec AntiVirus
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SYMREDRV
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SYMTDI
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ccEvtMgr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ccSetMgr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ccPwdSvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ccProxy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\DefWatch
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\NAVENG
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\NAVEX15
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SAVRoam
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SCSRT
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SAVRTPEL
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SNDSrvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SPBBCDrv
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SPBBCSvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Symantec AntiVirus
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SYMREDRV
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\SYMTDI
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\UpgradeCodes\E761730C408BDBC4D825D7A248EB45F3
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\7403AF9E51B091E458ECEEF76C6EF099
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\7403AF9E51B091E458ECEEF76C6EF099
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\E761730C408BDBC4D825D7A248EB45F3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\7403AF9E51B091E458ECEEF76C6EF099
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\7403AF9E51B091E458ECEEF76C6EF099
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache\{E9FA3047-0B15-4E19-85CE-EE7FC6E60F99}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes\E761730C408BDBC4D825D7A248EB45F3
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\7403AF9E51B091E458ECEEF76C6EF099
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\ccEvtMgr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\ccProxy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\ccPwdSvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\ccSetMgr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\Defwatch
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\LiveUpdate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\SAVRoam
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\SNDSrvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\SPBBCSvc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\Symantec AntiVirus
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\System\SAVRT
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SymEvent
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SymIDS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SymIDSCo
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SymnDIS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Symantec Secure Port


Delete these VALUES, if they exist.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\ccApp
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\vptray

In the left pane, click My Computer. On the Edit menu, click Find. Search for VirusProtect6. Delete all keys and values that contain this string.
In the left pane, click My Computer. On the Edit menu, click Find. Search for E761730C408BDBC4D825D7A248EB45F3. Delete all keys and values that contain this string.

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
This key contains many <Package Code> keys.
Click each <Package Code> key, and look in the right pane for references to Symantec
If you see any references to Symantec Client Security in the right pane, then delete the entire <Package Code> key.

5) Restart the computer.
You should now be (relatively, at least enough for Avast) Symantec and Norton free now. Congrats!

[norel]

Thanks for sharing this information undrline. I would approach this with extreme caution though. On a lot of systems, Norton comes bundled with other software. If you delete one of those files it can cause the other software to not work properly or not work at all.

[undrline]

Yup.  Read all cautions!  Backup before making any modifications to your registry!

Part of this was selfish, too, so I wouldn't have to find it on Symantec's site all over again 

[Tgell]

You might also want to try app remover.

AppRemover is a free utility that enables users to remove antivirus and other applications as well as left over files from incomplete uninstallations. There's no more need to mess around with your registry.
Covers applications from McAfee, Norton, Symantec, Trend Micro and more.

http://www.appremover.com/opswat-appremover-thoroughly-remove-your-security-applications