Can someone tell me why Avast home claims that I have an existing anti-virus on my XP Home machine when XP tells me that I need to install an anti-virus program?
Specifically I would like to know where in the XP Home operating system Avast obtains ‘its fact’ that there is an anti-virus program from Symantec already installed on my machine.
Additionally I would like to know what to do to eliminate this ‘existing’ anti-virus message. That is, what part of the registry (I find 4 or 5 entries in the registry with Symantec’s name in them) – what folder(s) – what file(s) should I delete? There is NO entry for an anti-virus program in Add/Remove programs.
Failing that what problems are in store for me if I go ahead and install Avast. XP home claims I need an anti-virus program.
I did not have any Anti-Virus programs listed in the Add/Remove programs as stated in my first post.
The Norton Removal Tool did the job. I was lucky. I did not have ANY Symantec products on my system.
That tool should be more product specific or at least allow you to choose. Imagine having four or five of Symantics products and having to reinstall three or four simply because you wanted to get rid of one of them.
I created a new folder to put Avast in named Avast! Anti-Virus. Avast reported it to NOT be empty when it was. I pushed through with a Yes and installed Avast anyway.
quote
Can someone tell me why Avast home claims that I have an existing anti-virus on my XP Home machine when XP tells me that I need to install an anti-virus program?
endquote
It is Windows Management Service (WMS) in XP
which sends you messages about status of Firewalls,Updates and Antivirus Apps.
It gets confused after Apps are Installed and Uninstalled.
You need to reset WMS Repository by deleting it and recreating it.
Three commands are needed at a DOS prompt
or create this little batch file if you are unsure about using DOS at the command prompt.
Put the following into a text file via Notepad:-
rem Start of batch file to fix WMS Repository
@ echo off
cls
echo.
echo Stopping Windows Management Service - please wait ...
rem First command
net stop winmgmt
echo.
echo.
echo Removing Repository folder - please wait ...
rem Second command
rd /S /Q %systemroot%\system32\wbem\Repository
echo.
echo.
echo Starting Windows Management Service - please wait ...
rem Third command
net start winmgmt
cls
echo.
echo Done! Now re-boot PC.
pause
rem End of batch file
Save this as (say) WMS.txt into your root folder (usually C:\ )
Open root folder C:*.* in Explorer
Rename this file to WMS.bat (ignore warning)
Double Left click the WSS.bat file
A black window will open showing progress - follow instructions
Sorry, but you are wrong. Sometimes drivers from the previous AVP can not be uninstalled by standard Uninstall and remain be loaded after reboot.
E.g. KAV driver klif.sys is doing so.
In this case you can look at the list of running drivers via
sc query type= driver
In my experience, Windows XP Management service can give wrong security status messages about firewalls, antivirus and security updates even after all drivers and services from a previous security application have been removed
including all registry references.
I have lost the reference to the source of the suggestion made in my previous post
but offer as further reading:- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933062
Thanks for pointing me to that other Avast thread - I got some more useful info there.
My further researches into the problem behaviour of Windows Security Centre (WSC) and the Repository, rapidly lead me to the Problems with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and then to WMI Diagnostics.
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/help/wmidiag.mspx).
It quickly became clear that I was out of my depth and into potentially dangerous territory. Time not to fix what isn’t broken!!
I’ve installed the MS KB933062 WMI stability update, and will see what happens when next I change antiVirus and/or firewall applications. I.e. Does WSC behave?
If it doesn’t, I will then use the aforementioned batch file, which seems to work (for me at least).
So it seems Rodalsa’s simple, and reasonable, question gets harder and harder to answer completely.
I’ve had instances where Windows Security Center in Vista listed some uninstalled antivirus programs/firewalls. In those cases, recreating the WSC repository by disabling the service and deleting the folder fixed the problem after a reboot. I know sometimes left behind drivers and incomplete uninstallation processes can link to this WSC problem, but sometimes there is just a problem with Windows Vista WSC…in my opinion… when none of the drivers are listed, or files listed in task manager.
Never tried it as a batch file though… I’ve always done it manually!
