Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-05-25)

63

Remove Kaspersky Anti-Virus completely

Enable all of Windows Security’s virus and

threat-protection features

has downloaded, right-click the
‘FsUninstallationTool.exe’ file and select
‘Run as administrator’. Select the software
you want to remove, then click Next.

McAfee Antivirus
Open Control Panel, click ‘Uninstall a
program’, then select McAfee AntiVirus
Plus, and click Uninstall/Change. Tick the
box beside McAfee AntiVirus, then click
Remove. If you run into problems, use the
McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool
(www.snipca.com/41971 - click ‘Method
2’ heading). Launch it, then type the
CAPTCHA shown on screen (it’s case
sensitive, see screenshot below left). Click
‘Next’ to complete the process.

Norton Antivirus Plus
Open Control Panel, click ‘Uninstall a
program’, select Norton Security, then
click Uninstall/Change. Follow the
instructions, rebooting your PC at the
end of the process. If this doesn’t work,
try Norton’s ‘Remove and Reinstall Tool’
(www.snipca.com/41960). Launch it,
then click Advanced Options and click
Remove Only, followed by Remove.
Finally, click Restart Now. This will delete
all Norton software from your computer.

Sophos Home
Open Control Panel, click ‘Uninstall a
program’, select Sophos Home, then click
Uninstall/Change. You may be asked to
reboot immediately, in which case click
Close, reboot, and repeat the previous
instruction. The second time around,
click Uninstall and, when the software
has been removed, reboot again.

Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security
Press Windows key+R, type supporttool.
exe then click OK. Click ‘1. Uninstall
Software’, followed by Yes. Make a note of
your serial number, which you’ll need if
you ever want to reinstall. Now tick the
box beside ‘I copied my serial number’,
then click Uninstall. Run the Remnant
File Remover Tool (www.snipca.
com/41914). Right-click the ‘Ti1770
win_en_Tool_UninstallTool_hfb0001.exe’
file and select ‘Run as administrator’.
Once you’ve agreed to the licence
agreement, click Install, followed by OK,
then restart your computer.

Clean up any remnants
You may have uninstalled your antivirus,
but it has probably left files on your
computer that also need removing. To
check, reboot your computer, open File
Explorer, click This PC on the left, then

double-click C: in the main pane. Now

look in both the Program Files and

‘Program Files (x86)’ folders for any

directories bearing the name of the

software you’ve just removed. If you find

any, drag them to the recycle bin.

Next, check that no entries have been

left behind in the registry. First, create a

system restore point by pressing the

Windows key, typing create restore point,

and clicking the top result. Click

‘Create...’, then follow the steps to save a

point that you can roll back to if required.

Now press Windows key+R, type

regedit and press Enter to launch the

Registry Editor. Click HKEY_CURRENT_

MACHINE in the sidebar, then click the

Software folder inside it. Check for any

sub-folders that match the name of your

old antivirus software (‘KasperskyLab’^1

in our screenshot above). If you find

one, right-click it and select Delete^2.

Also check for matching folders within

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE.

Enable Windows Security

If you’ve switched to Microsoft Defender,

you need to make sure that Windows

Security is turned on. Press the Windows

key, type security, then click Windows

Security. Click the ‘Turn on’ button below

‘Threat & virus protection’ and, when

Windows asks if you want to make

changes to your device, click Yes.

Now click the ‘Threat & virus

protection’ heading, followed by the

‘Manage settings’ link below the ‘Virus &

threat protection settings’ header on the

following page. Make sure each of the

sliders on the subsequent page have been

switched on, so they’re blue – as in our

screenshot above. Note that some may be

below the bottom of the window, so be

sure to scroll down to find them all.

Check the registry for leftover files after

uninstalling antivirus - click Delete if you find any

Kaspersky also has a tool for removing

programs and settings should Windows’

built-in installer not get rid of everything.

Kaspersky advises against using it

unless recommended to do so by its

technical support engineers. However,

we tested it on our own system by

performing the following steps, and it

worked fine.

First, download the free kavremover

software (www.snipca.com/41956),

then launch ‘kavremvr.exe’. Accept the

licence agreement. Kavremover will

then detect which Kaspersky software

you have installed on your computer

and display what it finds in a dropdown

menu (^1 in our screenshot). Use the

menu to select the program you want

to remove, then type the CAPTCHA into

the confirmation box^2 before clicking

Remove^3.

When the process is complete, reboot

your computer. Repeat this process

for any other Kaspersky programs you

want to remove. If you know you have a

particular tool installed and the remover

is unable to detect it, the dropdown menu

will instead display a full list of programs.

Click it and manually select the one you

need to remove.

Once we had run through this process,

we checked both our Program Files and

‘Program Files (x86)’ folders, as well as

the registry, and found no reference to the

removed Kaspersky software.

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Issue 632 • 25 May – 7 June 2022