I am NOT lying, using Malwarebytes, I did lose some unimportant files but I cleared a ransomware off of my computer in like 45 minutes, and that was with me pouring over the registry, a bunch of folders etc…
Turns out I stupidly thought I’d put Avast Free on my pc and run it to see if it caught anything else Malwarebytes or I may have missed - I’ve been trying to delete it now for hours and can’t.
Avast knows there is a problem because they made up a special little program, AvastClear, to use when it won’t delete from your computer only like so many others I’ve been reading about in my quest to terminate this stupid virus of a program, AvastClear isn’t working and I can’t remove Avast from my computer.
At least with a virus I can run a good program like Malwarebytes or a plethora of others and remove it, they don’t make a program to remove Avast.
I’ve tried everything I’ve read in numerous places, task killer, process hacker and so many more but none will work - with them all I get access-denied so I am left with ZERO choice, one I so did not want to do, I will have to restore my computer to before I installed Avast.
Reason I hate doing that is I will now have to have a whole bunch of microsoft updates re-installed which ends up taking quite a while - although I have spent wayyyyyyyyyyyyy more time trying to figure out how to avoid doing that.
Guessing they will delete this but know I am going to make a point to spend quite a bit of time visiting forum after forum warning others - DO NOT INSTALL AVAST, as far as removing it from your computer, it is far worse than a virus or the ransomware that led me to trying it in the 1st place.
Go ahead and brush me off as some crazy guy … until you try to delete it from your pc, then you will understand
Avast knows there is a problem because they made up a [b]special little program, AvastClear[/b], to use when it won't delete from your computerThere is nothing peculiar here, [b]ALL[/b] security vendors have removal tools, including Malwarebytes
List of Security Software uninstallers >> https://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/security-software/
Ultimate List of Uninstallers >> https://singularlabs.com/uninstallers/
At least with a virus I can run a good program like Malwarebytes or a plethora of others and remove it,Note that Malwarebytes does not target real virus, it also does not target script / doc / media files
My guess is that if the OP doesn’t know all AV’s have removal tools then I’d expect their computer to be full of leftovers from other anti viruses causing a number of system issues :-\
Recommendation: Remove all traces of old antivirus programs using link provided by Pondus.
Personally I think Avast is one of the biggest pieces of crap I have ever used. 1st they install a ‘safe browser’ and then they state when a complaint is issued that then end user agreed to the installation then they WRECK my Word files and then they WRECK one of my ini file structures. This is SUCH BS!!! NEVER would I EVER even contemplate using this garbage, the hours it has taken just to 1. get rid of the damn thing and then 2. to clean up after this piece of crap… Amazing!
In what way does Avast wreck your files?
HE IS RIGHT IT HAS BEEN PROVEN AND INVESTIGATED PEOPLE GOING TO SPEND TIME BEHIND BARS FROM AVAST!
:o SHOCKED don410 you wrote it was a virus in 2018 ages ago. In the news AVG and AVAST are indeed malware. Probably the worst anti-virus scandal in history.
MANY ARRESTS EXPECTED. Sorry you other sceptics the dude was 18 months ahead of the curve. True getting rid of it was like pulling teeth and AFTER using the removal tool
if you searched for Avast it was still there in another place running in the background. How does it work - they sell EVERY CLICK, EVERY LINK TO WHOEVER WILL PAY FOR IT.
Blue chip companies buy this rubbish. Investigated by PCMag 0 ok Avast try to sue me or them FAILED!!!
VERY SERIOUS AND NASTY VIRUS AVAST IS ITSELF MALWARE AND THIS IS NO JOKE! 
Look up www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdkq7/avast-antivirus-sells-user-browsing-data-investigation
Avast Statement: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=231828.0
A message from Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek
https://blog.avast.com/a-message-from-ceo-ondrej-vlcek
Yeah, I found out that my information was on the dark web because the Avast user database was hacked. Thanks Avast, now that’s 1st class security for ya.
You guys can’t even protect yourselves and your users. How can we ever trust your program to protect us?
While we may agree on data sharing thing they were doing, there is a lot of nonsense in this thread beyond that. There is uninstaller and if it fails for whatever reason, there is avast! Uninstall Utility that has worked on every instance. Preferably in Safe mode where it has a greater reach and capability. If even that fails for whatever reason, we’re here and we’ve done guides or tools to do cleanup as well as tech support from avast! which I know has further capabilities for removing antivirus that aren’t exactly official. So, saying you can’t get rid of it is disingenuous screeching in a wake of another unrelated drama.
I don’t agree with OP’s stance on avast! as a virus, but your bit about the Uninstall Utility “working in every instance” is anecdotal at best, as is my counterpoint. Avast! is the only antivirus program that I had to use an elevated command prompt to fully remove after their removal tool failed on 3 occasions to actually remove the program. Not much of an issue since I finally made the decision to abandon avast! after having used since Avast was Alwil due to what I perceive to be irredeemable bloat. Also the fanatical and cult-like worship of the program that some users (not you per se, I don’t really browse these forums enough to remember specific names due to over a decade+ of them feeling like a beehive of avast! drones) have is astoundingly off-putting. Though avast! will miss me no more than I miss them, I am sure. ;D
Dunno, when done in Safe Mode, it always removed it. Only thing that did and still bothers me is that it doesn’t clean everything and still keeps some crap around. That is annoying.
guys i know what your thinking. avast isnt that bad, its not worth it i got a 5tb external for an ealy christmas gift and when i pluged it into the computer with avast it said that it was connected to a porn site (im pretty sure was fake)
More details required, e.g. avast alert details, a screenshot might help us to help you.
I have very unpleasant consequences of using a few times Avast Secure Browser for some financial transactions on the internet. WITHOUT ANY PROMPTING OR ASKING FOR PERMISSION, ASB has spread to other files on my computer and has practically taken it over, imposing Windows Security settings and changing i. a. my pictures into html files, so I have now a few thousand pictures with the Avast yellow padlock, which do present themselves as html files, In the result, if in order to open them I use My Computer, it tries to open them with browsers. Fortunately, I am still able to open them if I use image processing software rather than My Computer. Ever more serious problems have been caused with my documents. I am now investigating, how extensive it is, but I can already see that while I am able to edit access permissions on some of MY documents, in approximately 80% (!!!) I am unsuccessful. If I am unable to access MY OWN documents, because of the havoc created by ASB on my computer, this is not a joking matter, so I expect from Avast an effective assistance in sorting this out and preventing such malicious spread of this software, which, ostensibly, is to be used for browsing only but behaves as aggressive malware. Trust me, I will not stay limited with this message to the Avast forum only!
What ever is locking up your files isn’t coming from the Avast Secure Browser. It’s a browser based on Chromium just like Googel’s Chrome browser. it doesn’t have access to your files.
I used to love it…but it is annoying now.
avast bad because it give you false warning and it sucks i don’t recommend it