Uninstalled Avast suddenly pops up again

So I recently uninstalled Avast and made a brand new installation of my Windows 10, using Windows media creation tool.
That should remove all programs that are not Windows and personal files, etc.
I did this because i have had some issues with Windows 10 and Avast not being good friends anymore.

So after the new installation of Windows 10 home edition, I used windows defender, and everything seemed fine.

BUT, suddenly after a few hours Avast pops up, and takes over the security of my computer, and shutting down Windows defender.

WHAT? I uninstalled Avast using Windows own removaltool, and made a brand new start of Windows, deleting everything non-Windows, and then Avast suddenly decides to start all over again???

How is that even possible?

When I uninstalled Avast I even had to go through a short surrey answering why I uninstalled and would i reinstall, and so on.

This makes me even more convinced I made the right decision leaving Avast after all these years.

Can someone explain what happened, when Avast went back and hijacked my security after several hours of being uninstalled?

Go here and download/install the FREEWARE version of Revo Uninstaller:
https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

See if it detects any Avast program on your computer and, if so, remove it.

See if that helps………

I suggest you use the Avast Uninstall Utility.
https://www.avast.com/en-us/uninstall-utility

Thanks for all the answers.
I will start using Revo from now on :slight_smile:

I just think it is pretty weird that i uninstalled Avast, and Avast itself told me it was uninstalled, and I got these questions about why and such, but then it pops up much later all of a sudden
shutting down Windows defender.

By the way how do i sign up for notifications in here, so that I can see when somebody answered my posts?
I have tried clicking on the “notify”-button, but I never get any mails or anything, notifying me.

Anyway, I am trying another antivirus now, but thank you very much for helping.

Revo, BCUninstaller and IOBit Uninstaller will all do a good job uninstalling most existing software and, if you use the ‘scan for left overs’ option or whatever the particular uninstaller calls its deep clean capability it will also clean up the registry too. You have to be careful with that though as ‘associated’ software can sometimes be wrongly included.

BCUninstaller will also look for ‘orphan’ items even after you’ve uninstalled the main program.

But at heart all of them just use the software’s own built in uninstaller and even with the ‘deep clean’ they can still leave behind stuff you have to remove manually.

With AVAST there is no inbuilt uninstaller, all you have is the Windows basic Add/Remove or Uninstall Program Control Panel option. IOBit Uninstaller actually adds itself to Control Panel menu and whilst it will do a better job than Windows itself the other uninstallers mentioned will work just as well.

The problem with AVAST is that it does not want to uninstalled even if you disable the self-defence module in AVAST’s settings. I suppose, with a security program, that is understandable where an obvious way to get at a PC for malicious intent would be to to remove or disable the AV protection by uninstalling the program or parts of it.

In short using any one of those uninstallers is likely not going to get rid of AVAST completely. You will have to use AVAST’s purpose designed uninstaller avastclear. in the way instructed (Safe Mode) or back it will come or reboot/restart.

https://support.avast.com/en-gb/article/10

What I don’t know, never having used it, is just how thoroughly avastclear cleans up the PC of all AVAST stuff.

Also whether it is possible to use avastclear after having used one of those deeper clean uninstaller programs. There can be a problem with leftovers, particularly in the registry, if they’re not removed at the same time as the parent program. There is nothing for an uninstaller like Revo to latch onto again once the main program installation has gone.

*If avastclear can still identify and remove everything still left over in such circumstances ie. after use of a deep clean uninstaller I would be interested to know.

I’d also like a little more certainty provided about the best removal procedure ie. assuming that the above* is OK is it recommended to use Windows/third party deep clean uninstaller first before using avastclear or simply go straight to Safe Mode and use that only? Which actually does the more thorough job?

This tool was designed to get rid of all the items from Avast that may interfere with any
other AV you may consider installing. This includes removing all items that may interfere whith
doing a clean install of Avast. It is actually recommended that you first remove Avast via the
Apps and Features (Program and Features) in Windows and after a reboot, use the
Avast uninstall utility. https://youtu.be/KD8LO8OxmvM

That is useful information but would using Revo or one of those other better than Windows uninstallers be OK to use in the same way?

All of them either run the Windows basic program uninstaller or, when present, the software’s own uninstaller tool but would using their most thorough uninstalling options interfere with the AVAST tool?

Almost all AV’s have remove tools ( [b]https://goo.gl/Gqi2JS[/b] ) designed to remove their specific AV.
I personally would rather use a tool designed to to a specific job than depend on a generic tool like Revo.
Your computer, your choice. :slight_smile:

But you said it was recommended practice to use Windows Add/Remove Programs or whatever that is called now first, before the tool. That’s what I thought was the correct practice too.

All Revo et al do in the absence of a specific program uninstaller is run the same Windows Add/Remove Programs tool too and then hunt for, mainly, registry and start up leftovers. What I was asking is whether doing that would interfere with avastclear removal tool.

I do not know why it would but it might so I asked. :slight_smile:

For AVs I would not rely on 3rd party tool to uninstall. Especially considering that AVs are updating themselves outside of standard setup process -3rd party tools will be unable to keep track of all the changes performed by the software.

The Windows Add/Remove program will always first launch the uninstaller provided by app developer, in this case the Avast Setup tool. Normally it should be enough to use that to remove the AV - you should only need to use avastclear in case of corrupted avast installation, or if standard uninstaller failed / was interrupted.

That is not the experience of a number of the people posting here. That is very much the reason for this thread - simply using Windows Add/Remove Programs too to remove AVAST simply does not do the job. You have to use the avastclear tool in Safe Mode afterwards to get rid of it entirely.

You’re not using a third party tool either for the actual removal. As said Revo etc run a program’s own uninstaller or the Windows Add/Remove Programs facility first before looking for the leftovers you’ll still have in most cases.

The Windows Add/Remove Program’s tool has been well known for leaving stuff behind and this is what those third party tools are far better at removing than anything else.

If you do not use a decent uninstaller and you’ve removed a lot of programs just using its own uninstaller or Windows tool you will have hundreds maybe even thousands of leftovers, everything from empty folders in Start Up to redundant registry entries littering your HDD.