Can not uninstall AntiVirus program

[Archman]

Hi people,

I am having issues uninstalling the Panda Antivirus Program off of my system. When I try to use Windows Add/Remove Program nothing happens when I get to the Panda Antivirus Program... when I try to use the Panda uninstall button nothing happens, it looks for a setup.exe program.


I have Windows XP Professional, and Panda Anvtivirus 7.07.72... I'm not sure what is going on, but how do I remove this program from my system now?

thanks

 

[PELarson]

You could try reinstalling it to the same directory and then uninstalling it.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: PELarson
You could try reinstalling it to the same directory and then uninstalling it.

thats what i would do.

 

[Archman]

Tried that, and it wouldn't work for some weird reason It checks for a previous version, and says to uninstall it first before I install it, but that shouldn't matter because it is the exact same version. I am not sure how to get around this now... the main reason I want to uninstall is to reinstall it... the program has gone corrupt.

When I try to do a scheduled scan or just run a scan now, it only scans the boot area for my 'C:' drive (about 6 files) and then finishes the scan without scanning the rest of the 30GB drive.

Well, first things first, how do I uninstall this???

thanks,
archman

 

[mechBgon]

Do you have to manually check a box for it to scan the subfolders as well?

 

[Archman]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Do you have to manually check a box for it to scan the subfolders as well?

Yes, I have tried all of the settings, and none of them seem to make a difference with it scanning C: drive, it will only scan the boot section of C: and then it finishes the scan. I've tried all the settings to make it work, read through the help manual, and followed everything... so far nothing has worked.

As of right now, I would like to uninstall it first. I even tried to uninstall it in Windows Safe Mode, but still no luck uninstalling

 

[mechBgon]

Ok, if it's looking for its setup.exe, try humoring it. Put in the CD and then run the uninstaller, and beat it over the head with its setup.exe location?

 

[Archman]

Well, it isn't a CD, I actually bought the software via the site to download the file, and save a few plastic trees (no cd)... thank you, thank you, I will be here all week.

It will not allow me to uninstall if I point it at the install file, also trying to install it over itself, it prevents itself from installing, it detects that it is already on there, and will not allow a fresh install without removing the previous version first... I'm thinking I am screwed at this point :frown:

I can't reinstall, I can't get the dang setup file to work... I can't fix what is wrong with it... grrr... dang it

 

[Archman]

now it just tries to install Panda, and gives me a message that it no longer works because a previous version is installed

 

[PELarson]

Originally posted by: Archman
now it just tries to install Panda, and gives me a message that it no longer works because a previous version is installed

Time may have come to try cleaning the registry.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I think the time has come for an email to Panda support asking them for instructions on how to remove a corrupted previous installation;

I've had a look on their web site and I can't find anything in their support knowledge base or their FAQ

 

[Archman]

I managed to find a bbs posting with a copy of an email someone recieved from Panda themselves regarding this issue... apparently it is a known problem with their Antivirus 2004 products.

This is the response someone got:

"
Dear Customer

In order to uninstall the Panda Antivirus Titanium program manually proceed as follows, deleting the entries in the Registry and files detailed below. However, if at any time the entries or files cannot be found, continue with the uninstallation process, as depending on the version installed the files or entries may or may not exist.

Follow the steps below:

First attempt to remove Panda from Control Panel, Add remove programs. Once this is done, make sure that there are no Panda Services running in the Services section in Control panel. Ensure they are stopped and set to disabled.

Open the Registry from Start, Run, write REGEDIT, and click on OK. Highlight 'My Computer' at the top of the list, then go to 'Edit' and 'Find'. Type 'panda' into the box and then click on 'Find Next'. This will search the Registry for panda files. When it brings up a folder or file, press 'delete' or right-click on the highlighted file/folder and select 'delete' from the menu to remove it. Then press 'F3' to search again and find the next Panda entry.

Continue to search and delete Panda entries in the Registry until no more entries are found. Then repeat this process, this time searching for 'pav'. When both searches are complete, close the Registry and restart the computer.

Once this operation has been carried out, using Windows Explorer delete the Panda Software folder that is below C:\Program files. You should also delete the following files Windows \system: PAV.SIG, APVXD.VXD, APVXDUT.VXD, PANDA.CHP.

By carrying out these operations, Panda Antivirus Titanium will be uninstalled.

Regards
Technical Support

Panda Software UK"

So I followed the instructions, and removed Panda finally. I have since downloaded AntiVir PE to test something out, and yet again when I try to scan my 'C:' drive it scans for about 2 seconds, and then finished the scan and summarizes...

Does anyone have an idea as to why Anti Virus programs do not want to scan my C: drive? I've gone to Trend Micro to do their online scanner, and Panda as well... sometimes one does not pick up anything, and the other does... but lately I have been clean of viruses, malware, and spyware.

All the settings in AntiVir PE seem to be set properly but it does not want to fully scan my C: drive, any ideas?