Avast Free Antivirus is a security software developed by Avast. The latter has the largest share of the global antivirus application market and provides a wide range of products to protect both consumers and corporations (Android, Microsoft Windows, iOS and macOS).
During configuration, the utility registers an automatic start at Windows startup using the Task Scheduler, which enables it at various delayed times (the schedule varies depending on the version of the antivirus). The software is designed to connect to the Internet and adds itself to the Windows Firewall exception list to run without intervention. After installation, to provide quick access to itself, Avast adds a context menu handler to the Windows shell.
Based on 2016 statistics, Avast had 400 million users and 40% of the antivirus software market outside of China. In 2017, it acquired Piriform, the developer of the CCleaner tool. The latter is notorious for a hacker attack in September 2017, which resulted in the corruption of CCleaner 5.33.6162 and CCleaner Cloud 1.07.3191 and pushed millions of users to the risk of being infected with the Floxif malware.
Naturally, many of those who have tried to use Avast have different opinions about the tool. However, given the results of independent testing in third-party laboratories, it has a high ability to block, detect and remove viruses. Antivirus adds a network security scanner, provides a password manager, offers a secure web browser and toolbar (Google Chrome), and other useful features.
Avast is capable of detecting and blocking adware and keyloggers in particular. Analysts at AV-Comparatives conducted a security test and provided two ratings each Advanced + and Advanced, which means that the product was rated much higher than others.
However, Avast is often suspected of negatively impacting device performance when scanning for malware. Some users disapprove of this tool as it lacks parental controls.
In short, Avast is a great antivirus for protecting your PC, but not the best. It can usually be uninstalled using Windows programs, features, or apps, but after the release of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, many reported that the program has stopped working or cannot be reinstalled / uninstalled.
It has been noted that the uninstallation process fails with an error indicating that Avast files are missing (e.g. Avastip.dll, avast.messaging.dll).
- Avast Free Antivirus does not appear in the Programs and Features list.
- You do not have sufficient rights to uninstall Avast Free Antivirus.
- The file required to complete this uninstallation cannot be started.
- An error has occurred. Not all files were successfully deleted.
- Another process that uses the file stops the uninstallation of Avast Free Antivirus.
- Avast Free Antivirus files and folders are still present on your hard drive after uninstallation.
Incomplete uninstallation causes many different problems. This is why it is important to properly uninstall Avast and all of its components.
If for one reason or another you decide to clean your computer from this utility, but nothing works, we will explain what steps you need to take to successfully remove it.
Option 1. Use the Avast Uninstall utility
Antivirus offers a free utility called Avast Uninstall that allows you to remove all components and parts of the tool. To run it, follow these steps:
Step 1. Download Avastclear.
The avastclear.exe file should now appear on your desktop.
Step 2. Start Windows in Safe Mode before opening it.
Step 3. Once the system boots up, double-click the avastclear.exe file.
Step 4. Find the default Avast folder in the list of programs and click Remove.
Important! If you've installed the tool elsewhere, select the last folder on the list, but be careful and make the right choice as all
Step 5.
Option 2. Remove Avast manually
Step 1. Shut down the antivirus in the task manager
To open it press Ctrl + Shift + Esc (Windows 10) or Ctrl + Alt + Del (older versions).
Click the "" tab and find Avast in the list.
Click on it and select "End Process".
Step 2. Remove the tool from apps and functions
Press Windows + I to access options. Open the "Applications" section.
Users of older versions of the system should open Control Panel and select "Programs and Features".
Find the entry for Avast Free Antivirus, click on it and select Remove.
Step 3. Remove the remnants of the antivirus
Right-click on the explorer and open the "Open" tab. Then click on "View".
Select "Options" and in the dialog box that opens, go to the "View" section.
Check the box next to "Show hidden files, folders and drives".
Hold Windows Key + R, type regedit and press Enter.
Open the "Edit" section at the top of the screen and select "Find Next".
If the search finds recovered antivirus entries, delete them.
Finally, restart your computer.
It's better after uninstalling the program, otherwise it might be too late. In some cases, it is very important to use several security utilities, because every second your computer is at risk of being infected with malicious viruses or software that never miss a chance to cause serious damage to your device or personal data. Thus, you need to periodically scan the system and remove the culprits. Never underestimate the magnitude of the damage they cause. Even if you have several powerful antivirus programs, don't be too cocky, because new viral technologies always appear faster than antivirus ones. Keep your security utilities up to date and stay alert anytime, anywhere.
Video - How to Uninstall Avast Software
It happens that you have installed Avast antivirus, but you do not like it and you want to get rid of it. In this case, the question will be relevant, how to completely remove Avast antivirus from your computer, since this program cannot be removed in the usual way, many try to remove this antivirus using the usual means of the operating system, however, after restarting the PC, entries remain in the registry that prevent the installation of another antivirus. Therefore, these days the question is becoming popular, how to remove avast right?
Protection features
- The settings for this program include uninstall protection by default. Therefore, to solve the problem, disabling protection is required. How to remove Avast antivirus, we will consider in detail in this article.
- If this antivirus program is removed incorrectly, then entries with parameters remain in the registry, as a result of which another antivirus program is not installed until the registry is completely clean and there are no mentions of Avast. It is almost impossible to get rid of the remnants of antivirus manually. For this task, the best solution would be a simple CCleaner program, through which you can clear the registry from unnecessary entries. Also, this program is capable of remove avast completely from computer.
- Question, How to remove Avast completely from Windows 7, is quite complex, since the standard set of this utility is not prone to uninstallation, since it does not contain the uninstall.exe file. However, you can find on the Internet and download the avast uninstaller program, then reboot, run this program and follow the instructions to complete the complete uninstallation.
Why should you uninstall Avast antivirus correctly?
- If you want to change a poorly working Avast antivirus for a properly working version.
- If you want to replace Avast with another antivirus.
- Your antivirus license is about to expire.
How to disable Avast self-defense
In order not to later have to clear the registry, after unsuccessful uninstallation of Avast in the usual way, by deleting the folder, you need to know how the self-defense module of this antivirus is disabled.
- First of all, open Avast and go to the "Settings" menu.
- In the lower left part there is a panel in which you should select the "Troubleshooting" item.
- You will see a window in which you need to find the item "Enable Avast Self-Defense Module" and uncheck it.
- Now this antivirus program can be easily removed using the methods we are used to.
If, after you uninstall Avast in this way, you still have problems installing another antivirus program, in this case, you will need to clean the registry. For these purposes, the CCleaner program is an excellent option.
How to remove Avast with CCleaner?
You can remove this antivirus using this program. The first step is to download and install the CCleaner utility on the device, it is easy to find on the Internet and it is free. This program will help us remove Avast, it is able to clean the computer not only of the antivirus itself, but also of all its files and registry entries. Simply put, it will not leave a trace.
There are also other analogues of this program, but you will have to pay for some, and the free ones cannot cope with this task.
The specialized utility avast uninstaller, downloaded to the computer separately (mentioned above), also copes with its task perfectly, but after it you still need to clean the registry with the CCleaner program. For this reason, do not complicate the process, one CCleaner program will be enough, moreover, it will be useful to you in the future.
CCleaner installation procedure:
- We launch the program.
- In the list on the left side, select "Service", select from the list Avast! Free Antivirus, select it and click on the "Uninstall" icon.
- We confirm the intention of our actions.
- We close the program, open the "Start" menu, turn on the restart of the computer.
- After rebooting, clean the registry.
- Run the CCleaner program again, then open the "Registry" section.
- We select the item "Search for problems", and then click the icon "Fix". However, you should not back up all changes in the registry.
- Click on the "Next" icon.
- We are waiting for the computer to reboot, and now we are completely free from Avast.
How to uninstall Avast on Windows XP, 7 and Vista
To complete this task, we also need the CCleaner program, it will be needed to clean the registry after the antivirus is removed. To remove Avast, we need to perform the following procedures:
- Open the "Start" menu, in the window that opens, select "Control Panel", and then click on the "Remove Programs" icon.
- Before us opens a utility, usual for Windows, created to remove programs. It is easy to use and easy to understand.
Avast is a fairly good free antivirus for your computer. However, sometimes you may be faced with the need to remove it - for example. Slows down the system or reacts too often to checked files. One way or another, today we will look at ways to completely remove Avast antivirus from your computer.
Note! Before performing any of the following actions, it is recommended to disable the Avast self-defense module to avoid errors during the uninstallation process.
For this:
System tools and a standard wizard for uninstalling Avast antivirus are enough to completely remove the program from your computer. However, for all the simplicity of this method, it also has some rather serious disadvantages. A lot of reports can remain in the system, and antivirus entries in the registry. Over time, these lead-to-nowhere recordings can slow down your computer.
Ready. You have completely removed Avast antivirus from your computer.
Removal with third-party uninstallers
This method has several advantages over the previous one. It ensures that all registry entries and residual files are removed, that is, in this case, the uninstallation of the program will be truly complete. However, the disadvantages of this method include the relative complexity of implementation and the need to install third-party software.
Important! Be sure to disable the self-defense module.
- Download the uninstaller application. There are a lot of them, but today we will look at the uninstallation process using the example of the popular Revo Uninstaller application.
- Open the installed program. You will see in front of you a list of applications installed on your computer. Select Avast.
- Click the Delete button located on the top toolbar. The program will start the analysis, it will determine what degree of scanning depth you need. Whether to rely on automation or to solve this issue yourself - the choice is yours.
- Click the "Scan" button, this will start a search for our antivirus files throughout the computer and its registry. When the scan is complete, the program will show you the result of its search.
- Select whatever you want to remove (it is recommended to just click the Select All button) and click the Remove button. Proceed to the next step as soon as the deletion of the selected items is finished.
- Now it's the turn of the files. It is also recommended here to select all items and delete them. Please be patient, files take much longer to delete than registry entries.
- After the uninstallation is complete, the program will notify you that few files will be deleted when the system is restarted.
- Reboot your computer. After a reboot, not a trace of the antivirus will remain in the system. Ready!
Remember! When you uninstall antivirus, you leave your computer unprotected against viruses. Try to keep this time without protection as short as possible - a computer without an antivirus with an active network connection is highly susceptible to virus attacks. Good luck!
Video - How to Remove Avast Antivirus
Compared to other programs, removing antivirus software creates a lot of difficulties for many users. One such antivirus is avast free antivirus, which can be downloaded for free. Unfortunately, not everyone likes this antivirus, and some users decide to switch to another, paid or simpler one.
But what if the antivirus doesn't uninstall properly, leaving behind residual files. In this article, you will learn how to remove avast free antivirus from computer using standard methods and more. If, nevertheless, you cannot remove the program from the computer anyway, then try it.
Before starting uninstallation
To remove Avast successfully, you need to perform several preparatory steps:
- Reboot your computer and press F8 several times when the system is turned on. As a result, the system will display a list in which you need to select "Safe mode"... This is done so that you have full access to all actions, including the complete removal of the antivirus.
- After turning on the system, open the antivirus control panel and disable self-defense. To do this, go to the avast antivirus settings and on the page that opens, select the tab Troubleshooting... Next, check the box next to the line "Disable self-defense module"... If it says "Enable ..." then everything needs to be done the other way around, that is, uncheck the box. After that, turn off the antivirus and all computer protection, if any.
- Turn off all programs and connect your computer to the internet. Only then can you start uninstalling avast free antivirus.
Removing Avast antivirus
The most effective and at the same time the simplest way to remove any program, including antiviruses, is the Control Panel. To do this, click on Start and select the line "Control Panel"... Next, a page will open with a list of various functions and settings, you need to select "Programs and Applications"... As a result, the system will display all programs and games, among which you need to select and click on the button "Change / remove".
As a rule, the system will open a special program through which you can uninstall Avast. During the uninstallation process, the antivirus will ask you to indicate the reason - we just skip it and confirm our decision. Antivirus removal is carried out in no more than a minute, after that we reboot the system and check for residual files.
Removing residual files
Now you know how to completely remove Avast antivirus from your computer, but do not forget that there is one catch. Almost all antiviruses leave several small files after their removal. They are not significant for the hard disk memory, but sometimes they can cause all sorts of errors that interfere with the work with another antivirus or program.
You can clean all files through the registry, to do this, open the "Run" section and enter the word "regedit". After that, enter the word Avast in the search bar and delete all files related to the antivirus. Thus, all files of the Avast antivirus will be deleted, and you can install other software without any problems.
Most recently, I wrote a note about the installation, but after testing I had problems with uninstalling and I decided to briefly describe how to remove Avast antivirus from a computer completely and without tails in system.
Due to the fact that antiviruses are closely integrated into the system (and this is normal, they have such a job) Quite often, a situation occurs when a standard uninstaller cannot cope with its task or removes antivirus software not entirely correctly or completely. Everything would be fine, but as a rule such tails the system may conflict with installed applications or make it impossible to install other anti-virus protection.
I can't say what it is connected with (and no one knows for sure) why it is not possible to remove the antivirus Avast Free Antivirus - but this situation just happened to me. When trying to uninstall through the control panel, the system said that Avast was in the process of installing and did not allow it to be done ... I tried to reboot the system, roll back - it could not be removed, the standard uninstaller just thought that the installation process was not completed yet.
To remove any Avast antivirus, you have several correct and surefire ways:
- Removal through the standard uninstaller application through the control panel;
- Using the proprietary Avastclear utility
If possible, use the standard program add / remove programs, if nothing comes out, use the utility
Remove Avast Free Antivirus using standard system tools
What is the process of removing Avast antivirus from your computer? - Go to "Control Panel", "Programs and Features", find in the list Avast Free Antivirus (it could be Avast Internet Security or any other Avast antivirus defender) and click the "Delete" button.
If there are no errors in the system and the installation was done correctly, then the Avast Free Anti-Virus removal utility will start ... here you can reinstall the anti-virus by clicking the "Restore" button, change the composition of the components (this is the window with the settings before installation) and, accordingly, the desired button "Delete" - that's what we need.
All that remains is to wait for the uninstallation to finish and restart the computer - at this stage, the uninstallation procedure can be considered successful
Avast Removal Tool - Avastclear
If Avast antivirus software always uninstalled without problems, I would not have written this note. Unfortunately, the utilities built into the system do not always manage to remove the Avast antivirus, which is why the developers have in store for us the proprietary avastclear utility, the purpose of which is to find all files related to their software and delete them correctly.
Unlike similar solutions from the same Eset - I liked the Avast software more ... everything works correctly even with Windows 10. So, let's get down to business - we stomp on the download page and download avastclear
This note could be shortened by forcing you to reboot in safe mode beforehand, but in Windows 10, the way to enter there is inconvenient and the developers of the utility made an original solution - they forcibly reboot the computer in safe mode and automatically launch the uninstall utility (with your consent of course)
We are waiting for the Avast Antivirus Clear utility to scan your computer and start (this process can take quite a long period of time, for example, it took me about a minute to launch)
After a successful start, we will be notified that it is better to run the program in safe mode - this is generally logical, in safe mode the antivirus will not start and it can be cleaned correctly from your system. We agree to restart and do not touch anything at startup - the item with Avast Antivirus Clear will automatically appear in the list of operating systems.
After starting your computer in Safe Mode, the Avast Product Removal Utility will automatically start. If you did not make any changes to Avast during installation, leave everything as default, this type of settings will help in 9 cases out of 10. Press the big green "Uninstall" button ...
... and wait for the Avast antivirus to be removed from your computer. After correct removal, the computer needs to be restarted, as before, your copy of Windows will start, and the item with the antivirus will automatically disappear.
Afterword and alternatives to remove Avast
We examined with you how to remove Avast, and it would seem that there is nothing more to add ... but I still have some thoughts - after all, there are also third-party programs for organizing work with installed programs.
For example, there are third-party uninstallers (like Revo Uninstaller), however, I recommend using these methods only in the most extreme cases. As a rule, such utilities uninstall applications incorrectly and the remnants of programs interfere with the normal operation of the system (it is quite possible that just the files will be deleted, but the entries in the registry and other information in the system will most likely remain).
It will not be superfluous to delete files and folders created during the work of the antivirus - we just hammer Avast into the search on the PC and delete all unnecessary garbage from the system (this is for moral satisfaction - such trifles do not interfere with the work of the computer and do not take up much space)
In general, I have not yet met situations where the native avastclear utility could not remove tails from the system (after all, many are trying to simply delete the folder with the program, and the antivirus will not allow this)... There is a choice, but I hope you will successfully use Avast and you will not need to remove it ...
