Windows 10: Anti Virus (AV) stand alone removal tools

The nature of Anti-virus (AV) programs is to protect your system from unauthorized changes.
This often interferes with a clean uninstall of the program.
To resolve this, many AV vendors provide a stand alone removal tool for their product.

Read the links for your AV product, follow the detailed instructions on the product page and if provided, use the stand alone tool referenced on the page.

The best way to uninstall an AV product from your machine:

• Use Programs and Features to uninstall the base product
  • Read any Processing notes below for the product you are trying to uninstall
  • Restart your machine after removing the product from Programs and Features
  • Check Action Center to make sure Windows Defender is running - start it if it is not
  
  
• Run the removal utility in Command Prompt (Admin) for the AV product you removed above
  Read the instructions and ask any questions before running the utility.
  Most are straight-forward, but some do have precautions.
  • Restart your machine after running the stand alone removal tool
  • Check Action Center to make sure Windows Defender is running - start it if it is not
  
  
• Launch Command Prompt (Admin)
  Enter the following command in the Command Prompt window
  
  SFC /scannow

Product___________________________________ Vendor support page Avast Avast Uninstall Utility | Download aswClear for Avast Removal AVG AVG | Download tools and utilities Avira How do I uninstall my Avira Antivirus product? BitDefender How to uninstall Bitdefender 2015 BullGuard Uninstall BullGuard Internet Security 12 - Step-by-step guide - BullGuard
CA Antivirus / Total Defense Uninstall Total Defense Anti-Virus Comodo Internet Security How to uninstall Comodo AntiVirus (CAV) - Powered by Kayako Help Desk Software CounterSpy Google: uninstall+CounterSpy Cyber Defender Early Detection Center Fix PC Problems | Remote Computer Repair | USTechSupport.com Dr. Web Dr.Web Technical support service
Dr. Web Anti-Virus Remover Download eScan Uninstalling eScan anti-virus for Windows
http://www.microworldsystems.com/dow...s/esremove.exe ESET How do I manually uninstall my Windows ESET product?ESET Knowledgebase
FRISK F-PROT Antivirus for Windows How to uninstall F-PROT Antivirus for Windows - F-PROT Antivirus Support Windows F-Secure How do I uninstall the product? - F-Secure Community
L: ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/support/tools...lationTool.zip G Data Tools - AVCleaner Heimdal Security Pro or FREE
CORP Kaspersky PreProcess:
Disable self protection (from the GUI)
Exit realtime protection (from the system tray icon)
Removal tool for Kaspersky Lab products (kavremover)
http://media.kaspersky.com/utilities...s/kavremvr.exe K7 Total Security http://www.k7computing.com/en/tools/K7RT.exe LavaSoft How to uninstall | Lavasoft
Forum: Unable To uninstall Lavasoft Ad-aware Malwarebytes http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-clean.exe McAfee McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool
http://us.mcafee.com/apps/supporttools/mcpr/mcpr.asp
PostProcess:
If MCPR shows Incomplete uninstallation, restart the machine and run MCPR again. Microsoft Security Essentials http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2435760 Norman Virus Control/Norman Security Suite How to completely remove Norman Security Suite from your computer - Norman
Removing Norman Security Suite - Norman Norton(Symantec) Download and run Norton Removal Tool Norton Security Scan L: ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...ools/NSSRT.exe Panda http://www.pandasecurity.com/resourc...STALLER_08.exe Panda Cloud Internet Protection http://www.pandasecurity.com/resourc...ninstaller.exe Pareto Logic Uninstall ParetoLogic XoftSpySE Sophos How to uninstall your Sophos product
Spybot Search & Destroy How to Uninstall Spybot 2 Total Defense Uninstall Total Defense Anti-Virus Trend Micro Uninstalling Trend Micro Security and older programs using the Diagnostic Toolkit
http://solutionfile.trendmicro.com/s...ol_hfb0001.exe Trend Micro: Business Security Agent Uninstall Tool: Business Security Agent Vipre How to Uninstall VIPRE Internet Security and VIPRE Antivirus : Support
How to manually remove VIPRE Antivirus or VIPRE Internet Security : Support Webroot Installation Support Windows Live OneCare http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...areCleanUp.exe Windows Security Essentials http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2435760 Zone Alarm Registered ZA user: Self-Service Support
Download Zone Alarm Clean.exe
PostProcessing:
Only if there are ZA remnants after running the tool in normal mode - boot to Safe mode and re-run ZA clean.

:)

 

Names of some viruses

Just to know: to remove viruses:

If F-Sucure is the best or the stand alone in anti-virus products.

If not or even yes, lets sort it out according to the best to the least popular.

 

Windows Defender will not turn on

Hi Mark,

Couldn't reply earlier because of major electricity problems here...

As mentioned earlier, there is no need to uninstall Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. In case you have the Premium version you might need to disable its real-time scanning, though.

So you did run the Avast uninstall tool in the meantime and reboot?

When you go to Security and Maintenance and look in
Security under Virus Protection: Is there still another Anti-Virus program (than Windows Defender) listed?

If so, you need to uninstall that AV too with the help of its specific removal tool from this
List of anti-malware product removal tools

and reboot.

If you have trouble using the individual removal tools, you might want to use the ESET AV Remover Tool (which can detect and uninstall various AVs), see

http://support.eset.com/kb3527/#removable

If nothing works and you still can't get Windows Defender enabled, then you perhaps might want to either reinstall Avast or look for another AV program....

You might want to read this article:

Choosing an Anti-Virus Program

Cheers,

J

 

Thanx Bill...

AV's "integrate" with the kernel and are thus tenacious to remove - good we have a list of specialized apps to uninstall them *Smile

 

This is an Excellent Post Bill !!!! Great Job Sir *Thumbs*Thumbs

 

Great post Slartybart! *Smile Would rep you again, but have to share the love first.....

 

Thank you but still had to use Revo Uninstaller as on the McAfee Anti-virus would not completely remove itself on my friends so finished off using that

 

Saving it to ext hdd.
Thanks.

 

I updated the McAfee links. This will be the case as vendors change their pages, utilities, or get acquired.

I'm not sure if the new links would have made any difference - maybe *Wink

McAfee Virtual Support

I'm glad Revo came to the rescue once again!

Thanks for bring it to my attention.

 

Glad to of been able to help.
Also once McAfee was off both Windows Defender and the FireWall came by themselves, did all the latest updates and a quick Scan.

 

Awesome!
Thanks very much for taking the time to assemble such a comprehensive list!

{For some AVs, there are tweaks/tricks to uninstalling (above and beyond a normal uninstall and running the removal tool) that the vendors don't always include with their instructions. For example, as a McAfee survivor, I know that one sometimes needs to run their removal tool more than once, perhaps from Safe Mode, for complete eradication. And for Kaspersky, it's a good idea to disable self protection (from the GUI) and to exit realtime protection (from the system tray icon) before uninstalling; they also recommend using their removal tool only when a regular uninstall (as you describe) does not work properly. From the "live and learn" department....*Rolleyes}

Thanks again.

Cheers,
MM

 

Thanks - added notations

 

One for ZoneAlarm with a note for safe mode
Link to uninstall instructions: Self-Service Support

Note:

 

Thanks Martijn

I could not get to the link you provided, but included it anyway. I guessed that you have to be a registered ZA user.

I also included a link to direct download the tool from ZA servers. I found that link in the support forums with one user stating that it worked only in safe mode after running it in normal mode

I added a PostProcess note about Safe mode based on your Warning and the ZA post.

Bill
.

 

I'm not a registered user as I've never used ZA and can access the site on any system I have quickly access to *Smile