Antivirus Programs – Good @ Stopping Viruses, Bad @ Allowing Own Removal

Today, there are so many bad things waiting to happen to anyone { using Windows } when they connect their machine to the internet that an antivirus is as important as password protecting e-mail accounts. So important is it that when Windows XP Service Pack 2 came out, the little red shield icon came to the task tray, to indicate that the user’s machine was not properly protected.

Lots of debate ensues when the best antivirus program is discussed, but no one argues the idea of going commando, that is, without protection.

Because the effectiveness of, and the public esteem in which these programs are held, changes all the time, not to mention the matter of cost, these programs are frequently removed from a machine, and very quickly replaced with another. Or that is the plan.

Some programs have gotten very proprietary with your machine, and have become as hard to remove as the nastiest of virus infections. Worse still, there are certain processes that will exhibit their own virus-like behavior, surviving a quick warm reboot. To make sure that all the disparate parts of the antivirus program you use will be gone before you try to install the successor, there are removal routines, completely separate, and sometimes very well hidden, for the software from major suppliers. Much of the blame for this must rest squarely upon the shoulders of Microsoft, as the very nature of Windows, and the complexity of that bane of our existence, known as the registry.

If you are thinking of changing your protection, a quick trip to the appropriate supplier, and use of the program to remove problems, will bring an extra bit of peace to an otherwise stressful operation.

♯  AntiVir Registry Cleaner
♯  Avast Removal Tool
♯  AVG Remover
♯  Bitdefender Uninstallation Tool
♯  F-Secure Uninstallation Tool
♯  Kaspersky Removal Tool
♯  McAfee Consumer Products Removal
♯  Microsoft One Care Uninstall Cleanup Tool
♯  Norton Removal Tool
♯  Panda Anti Virus 2008 Uninstaller
♯  Symantec Corporate Products Clean Up Tool

Removal of any program is made easier by Revo Uninstaller, which is made to do a full removal of poorly designed programs (which for commercial programs is nearly all of them). Using Revo to remove, and then the appropriate removal tool for that removed program will yield great results 99.5% of the time.

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Back in high school, my buddies tried to put the make on anything that moved. I told them, “Why limit yourselves?”     • Emo Philips

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