Avast will not let me uninstall it or reregister or even reinstall

General Topics
1

I am running avast 4.8 I allowed the registration to lapps due to no time when I got a new reg # the program said there was an error. I tried to uninstall so I could reinstall got the same message. I have no clue what to do now.

My sys info …
Windows XP Home Edition
Processor 1.20 gigahertz AMD Athlon

2

Does this link help in any way?

http://www.avast.com/eng/faq-registration-license.html

3

Maybe this video can help?

http://www.avast.com/files/tutorials/insert_key.htm

4

Can you post a little more about the error message?
Are you the administrator?
Which was your old antivirus (before avast)?

5

Ok I am the Admin, I was using Norton system works 2006 but it expired and I did not like the way it slowed my sys down. I uninstalled it and went to avast on a friends recomdation. in 08. I tried to pull up the error message again but no go. Now I have no start up. exe, no icons… except the a ball at the lower left corner.
I will keep trying to get more info tomorrow night. Could a virus cause this trouble?

6

First of all…

  1. Remove NAV or Norton 360 through Add/Remove programs from Control Panel. Boot.
  2. Use Norton Removal Tool for Windows 2000/XP/Vista or Norton Removal Tool for Windows 98/Me. Boot.
  3. Install avast! (or repair the installation) and boot.

The Norton Removal Tool uninstalls all Norton 2008/2007/2006/2005/2004/2003 products and Norton 360 from your computer.

7

Sorry if I was not clear but I did remove all of the Norton program before I ever installed any other antivirus program I do understand they are not compatable.

As for the error message it states when when any function is preformed such as uninstall, update, reinstall, and register as follows “There was an error when/ while (action) was done.”

There is not error code which would really be helpful with this kind of problem.
And personaly once I get this program off my computer I will never put it back unless I am assured that this problem is fixed. It is almost worse than the virus trouble. I do not understand why a company would write a program that you can not uninstall short of formating the hard drive. It is nice that it is free but I was going to upgrade to one of their better programs but not now.

8

Norton and Symantec products leave remnants even after uninstalling.
These remnants can and will cause varying degrees of conflict. Seen it on this (and other) forums before. A lot.

If you didn’t use the Norton Removal tool, chances are high it’s the reason.

Avast also has an [urlhttp://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html]uninstall utility,[/url] which would be advisable to run before re-installing the program, as it is possible your installation is now corrupt.

It is almost worse than the virus trouble. I do not understand why a company would write a program that you can not uninstall short of formating the hard drive
Some ex- Norton users have been known to voice similar sentiment about Norton.