Serious Discussion How to Safely and Completely Remove AV

[oldschool]

And so I simply find, for example, Eset in these places in the registry, select it with the mouse and delete it?

Yes. I do it like @Jonny Quest.

I do it the old fashioned time consuming way: Regedit/Run as Admin/Find/Bitdefender/Find next, Find next etc. etc. etc.

... which is actually a very safe way to do this.

 

[oldschool]

The times I've tried Revo, there was the one main registry entry with a cascading window of other keys underneath it to delete.

I don't like Revo because of this visual confusion, as opposed to directly in Registry Editor where the highlighted key is easily and clearly distinguished. Slower, but safer in my experience. And I don't want a 3rd party app just to edit the registry. @oldschool ways are often the best.

 

[SeriousHoax]

One thing should be noted that if you use something like Revo/HiBit to uninstall then let the PC restart first before scanning and deleting leftovers using by them. All AVs would ask for a system restart after uninstalling and it is very important to do that first.

 

[IceMan7]

One thing should be noted that if you use something like Revo/HiBit to uninstall then let the PC restart first before scanning and deleting leftovers using by them.

Where is this option in Revo Free? After closing Revo (restarting the computer), how do I find the remnants of the removed program?


I won't risk it. I don't know how to manually delete from the registry. I've already made a mess once. Unless someone shows me an example of what can be deleted - which entries or subdirectories in the registry

 

[lokamoka820]

And so I simply find, for example, Eset in these places in the registry, select it with the mouse and delete it?

Yes exactly.

And if you want a safer way, you can use JCleaner "Manually" section to view all software keys related to apps available in the registry whether they are installed or deleted, and you can search by the name too in the search box above, here is an example of my registry:



I recently remove "UCheck" and "Agent Ransak" from my device, but they left some keys in the registry, "Adlice Software" related to UCheck and "Mythicsoft" related to Agent Ransak so I can mark the checkboxes of both and delete, and for safety they will be backed up in the app if I want them back:

 

[IceMan7]

Thank you. And I don't want to install any program again.

Maybe @Jonny Quest will show how he does it on the Windows registry ? I'd be grateful. It can be on PW

 

[roger_m]

Where is this option in Revo Free? After closing Revo (restarting the computer), how do I find the remnants of the removed program?

Revo will start again after rebooting and then scan for leftovers. Although as I've already mentioned, unless you've actually used it to monitor the installation of the antivirus, it may failed to remove some drivers.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Where is this option in Revo Free? After closing Revo (restarting the computer), how do I find the remnants of the removed program?


I won't risk it. I don't know how to manually delete from the registry. I've already made a mess once. Unless someone shows me an example of what can be deleted - which entries or subdirectories in the registry

As @roger_m mentioned Revo and also Hibit will automatically start in such cases after you restart the system and continue from where you left of. After that let them delete what they find and then you do manual searching via your preferred searching programs and registry editor.

 

[IceMan7]

Either I have something set incorrectly or I don't have something set, because after a restart I have never had a situation where Revo Free wanted to start. Let alone scan.
That's why I asked this question.
And that's why I've been doing this until now - Revo, I remove the program, thanks to REVO I remove folders and entries from the registry. And immediately restart the computer mainly thanks to the tool of the installed program and not manually through Windows.

However, if I wanted to remove the remaining entries from the registry now, I would like to see how to do it with REGEDIT from Windows Should I delete entire folders on the left "in this tree" or individual entries that appear in the large right window.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Either I have something set incorrectly or I don't have something set, because after a restart I have never had a situation where Revo Free wanted to start. Let alone scan.
That's why I asked this question.
And that's why I've been doing this until now - Revo, I remove the program, thanks to REVO I remove folders and entries from the registry. And immediately restart the computer mainly thanks to the tool of the installed program and not manually through Windows.

However, if I wanted to remove the remaining entries from the registry now, I would like to see how to do it with REGEDIT from Windows Should I delete entire folders on the left "in this tree" or individual entries that appear in the large right window.

Revo used to do it, don't know if it is different now. I don't use Revo anymore, I use HiBit which does what I explained even the portable version.
Removing registry is not super important if something is not broken. I also clean registry but most of the time only whatever Hibit and Ccleaner finds. The Registry Finder app mentioned by @lokamoka820 is a really good one to find things quickly.

 

[IceMan7]

Revo used to do it, don't know if it is different now. I don't use Revo anymore, I use HiBit which does what I explained even the portable version.
Removing registry is not super important if something is not broken. I also clean registry but most of the time only whatever Hibit and Ccleaner finds. The Registry Finder app mentioned by is a really good one to find things quickly.

This is exactly what I'm getting at. In the past, when I uninstalled incorrectly, some remnants were in the registry, which caused problems with installing another AV. Then I had to save myself with FRST and delete registry entries that caused conflict.
Now, when I remove Revo, it probably (?) only deletes the most important entries. In any case, after the FRST scan, there is no trace of Eset and Fsecure in my system. And I assume that it will be the same in the case of removing BD.

I'm a bit careful with this registry. I "experimented" with it once and it happened that I deleted too much, which later caused problems with Windows.
Now, if something even from Eset or Fsecure is left in the registry, and it doesn't cause errors and conflicts, then I'd rather let it sit

I don't use HiBit. I tried it, but I don't like this software. I find it more convenient to use REVO.
I use CCleaner to clean and delete the registry, whatever it finds there automatically.

PS
If I have Bitdefender Total Security and I see that VPN (which I don't use) is a separate part in programs (you can clearly see it in Revo or Windows add/remove programs) can I uninstall it (this VPN BD)? Will it not lead to some crash? Or is it better not to touch it?

 

[simmerskool]

fwiw I tried BCUinstaller and I like GUI and features but noticed a few anomalies: eg, I uninstalled 2 apps, one at a time, and scanned for leftovers when each was done, then looked in system Add/Remove and each was still listed as installed -- perhaps those 2 needed a reboot? Add/Remove also showed Farm Heros Saga (king.com) but could not find it as listed in BCU so I used Add/Remove to uinstall it -- no idea what that was or where I got it or why...? I have Revo on my Host hardware, and used paid in past, but lately I find I'm not using it during an install, as 90%+ of pc usage is in VM. I have liked Hibit too. & Geek uninstaller.

PS JCleaner at VT = 4/72 unsigned and Cyberlock VAi = not safe 98/100 | not saying it is malware just something to know, I don't need it that bad so deleted its setup...

 

[IceMan7]

Worth noting. Today, for the second time right after starting the system, when I wanted to start Firefox, BD froze it. The first time it finally let go and Firefox started. Today FF froze and I had to disable FF in the task manager. Next start without a problem.

I don't know about other browsers. I have Edge as a backup and I practically don't use Edge.

 

[lokamoka820]

I uninstalled 2 apps, one at a time, and scanned for leftovers when each was done, then looked in system Add/Remove and each was still listed as installed -- perhaps those 2 needed a reboot?

Did you try to refresh system Add/Remove after you uninstalled them?

Add/Remove also showed Farm Heros Saga (king.com) but could not find it as listed in BCU so I used Add/Remove to uinstall it -- no idea what that was or where I got it or why...?

Is it installed in default location? Usually BCU find more apps than others, it even finds portable apps for me not just the installed ones, check the filters on the left side if they hide some apps too.

 

[simmerskool]

Did you try to refresh system Add/Remove after you uninstalled them?

Is it installed in default location? Usually BCU find more apps than others, it even finds portable apps for me not just the installed ones, check the filters on the left side if they hide some apps too.

the 2 I unisntalled where Add/Remove listings remained, the apps did not seem "heavy" enough to require a reboot, so that was probably it. I uninstalled a 3d app a little later and then rebooted and it was also removed from Add/Remove. I have to research that "farm heros saga" installation, sounds like nothing I would ever intentionally install, and it seemed integrated with microsoft stuff. Why BCU did not detect it -- unclear. That Farm Heros does have several registry keys which for now I left as is as there is no trace of it in SSD.

 

[lokamoka820]

the 2 I unisntalled where Add/Remove listings remained, the apps did not seem "heavy" enough to require a reboot, so that was probably it. I uninstalled a 3d app a little later and then rebooted and it was also removed from Add/Remove. I have to research that "farm heros saga" installation, sounds like nothing I would ever intentionally install, and it seemed integrated with microsoft stuff. Why BCU did not detect it -- unclear. That Farm Heros does have several registry keys which for now I left as is as there is no trace of it in SSD.

If it doesn't have a trace in SSD, then are you sure it is installed on the system, not just pinned to get installed when you click on it? Try to right-click on it and check if its menu have an "uninstall" option or not.

 

[simmerskool]

If it doesn't have a trace in SSD, then are you sure it is installed on the system, not just pinned to get installed when you click on it? Try to right-click on it and check if its menu have an "uninstall" option or not.

hmmm Farm Heros Saga -- I just went to Apps & Features and found it under Apps for Websites, it had (has) setting Run in Background and also Terminate && uninstall. So I turned off Background, then terminated button, then the uninstall button. I am going to reboot and check again... Curious.

 

[lokamoka820]

hmmm Farm Heros Saga -- I just went to Apps & Features and found it under Apps for Websites, it had (has) setting Run in Background and also Terminate && uninstall. So I turned off Background, then terminated button, then the uninstall button. I am going to reboot and check again... Curious.

I think it is a leftover from previously uninstalled app, you can try to reinstall it and then remove it with 3rd party uninstaller to see if it will be removed, but first try to check if Geek Uninstaller found it, if not then I think it is not installed.

 

[simmerskool]

I think it is a leftover from previously uninstalled app, you can try to reinstall it and then remove it with 3rd party uninstaller to see if it will be removed, but first try to check if Geek Uninstaller found it, if not then I think it is not installed.

geek (free) is not seeing it I think Farm Heros is finally gone

 

[roger_m]

PS JCleaner at VT = 4/72 unsigned and Cyberlock VAi = not safe 98/100 | not saying it is malware just something to know, I don't need it that bad so deleted its setup...

It's not malware. It's detected as malware by two AI scanners which often have issues with false positives, which is the case this time. It's detected by two other scanners as being a PUP, rather than malware. The current version of JCleaner was released and first scanned at VT in September of last year. If it was actually malicious, some of the big name antiviruses would have added detections for it a long time ago.

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