left over files

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

HI all, troubleshooting a system problem, uninstalled avast for now.

One interesting thing, found a driver in \windows\system32\drivers called pavboot.sys
According to msinfo32, this was loaded and started. This is a Panda AV file, probably left over from
something I did years ago. I deleted it from the registry and it’s not longer loaded.

I wonder if this could have affected avast?

After uninstalling avast (as I said) and running avastclear, found the following bits left over.
Pretty sure they’re safe to delete, but wanted to mention it .
Thanks,

2

As nowadays seems a common practice,
the default uninstall procedure (through control panel) and even the “special” removal tool(s) are not removing everything.
And it isn’t hard to program it.
Even I can do it in BASIC!

It would not surprise me if you find even more leftover files if you do this:

  • Open a command prompt
  • type c:\ (to get to the root, assuming c is your main drive with the os installed)
  • type dir asw*.* /s > list.txt

It can take a few minutes to finish, but open list.txt and see what it has found. :wink:

3

OK thanks for the info.

I didn’t look further, deleted the items above and reinstalled. Seems OK for now.
Really weird about that old Panda Av file.

Even though it was loaded, would it affect avast? It was probably benign.

4

If it was loaded, it can have had a effect on avast.
If everything is working like it should now, I would say don’t worry.

5

The file seemed to be an orphan from some install/uninstall I did years ago.
Who knows what people have lurking on their machines when the uninstall routines don’t clean up properly.

6

When there is a major upgrade i.e. version 10 to version 11 for avast antivirus products I uninstall it via add/remove and use the avast uninstall utility for a clean installation and worry free :). I also use avast uninstall utility when I see that my avast free ain’t working properly! Other than that when there is a update not a major one i.e. version 10.1 to 10.2 I use the Avast gui to update it.

As for those files I wouldn’t even think about deleting it as the upgrade will overwrite those files and I am always careful to not delete those because fear of computer getting BSOD or avast is not working properly at all or even worse.

I am just giving you a word of advice :slight_smile: