AVG problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger Hird
  • Start date Start date
R

Roger Hird

I've used AVG's free product happily for a couple of years on my WinXP
desktop.

After Christmas WinXP crashed with a file corruption (and without a decent
backup) so I had to reinstall it - and all my software.

During this I downloaded the AVG free product - and THOUGHT I had
installed it. It is certainly in my "program" menu - AVG 7.5 - with icons
for AVG Control Centre, Test Centre, virus vault and uninstall - but it is
not clear that it is running. I can't find it on the task bar - or find
any sign of it in task manager - and if I click on the Control Centre icon
in the program menu I get the message "Could not initialize AVG Anti-virus
kernel interface. Application cannot run."

My thought was to uninstall AVG and start again with a new download but
when I click the "uninstall AVG" icon I get a window with a longish check
on system status, then an "uninstall failed! - 1 error" window - and the
error is "Uninstallation not possible. Product not installed".

My query is whether I can just ignore the "phantom" installation, download
AVG again and install the new copy - or should I try to do something about
the un-installed AVG in my programs menu. Any ideas out there?
 
I've used AVG's free product happily for a couple of years on my WinXP
desktop.

After Christmas WinXP crashed with a file corruption (and without a decent
backup) so I had to reinstall it - and all my software.

During this I downloaded the AVG free product - and THOUGHT I had
installed it. It is certainly in my "program" menu - AVG 7.5 - with icons
for AVG Control Centre, Test Centre, virus vault and uninstall - but it is
not clear that it is running. I can't find it on the task bar - or find
any sign of it in task manager - and if I click on the Control Centre icon
in the program menu I get the message "Could not initialize AVG Anti-virus
kernel interface. Application cannot run."

My thought was to uninstall AVG and start again with a new download but
when I click the "uninstall AVG" icon I get a window with a longish check
on system status, then an "uninstall failed! - 1 error" window - and the
error is "Uninstallation not possible. Product not installed".

My query is whether I can just ignore the "phantom" installation, download
AVG again and install the new copy - or should I try to do something about
the un-installed AVG in my programs menu. Any ideas out there?
Click to expand...

I'd at least try downloading and installing it, then uninstalling it and
see if it can be cleanly uninstalled. You might want to contact AVG and
see if they have a dedicated uninstaller like some other AV products.
--
Michael Cecil
http://macecil.googlepages.com/index.htm
http://macecil.googlepages.com/safehex.htm
http://macecil.googlepages.com/hackingvista.htm
Chuck Norris: Afraid of NOTHING, except John McCain's 95 year-old mother
 
I'd at least try downloading and installing it, then uninstalling it and
see if it can be cleanly uninstalled. You might want to contact AVG and
see if they have a dedicated uninstaller like some other AV products.
Click to expand...

Thanks - as far as I can see it does have an uninstaller - which itself
seems to be installed - it just doesn't think the programme itself is!

I'll probably carry on and download another copy.

Thanks again.
 
Roger said:
Thanks - as far as I can see it does have an uninstaller - which
itself seems to be installed - it just doesn't think the programme
itself is!

I'll probably carry on and download another copy.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Install it into the SAME folder it is supposedly installed in now.
Then you can try the uninstall again, if you wish.
I would.
I think what Micheal wrote was to go to the AVG site to see if they had a
'special' uninstaller to use to remove all traces of AVG that might be left
after a 'failed' or incomplete uninstall.
Let us know the results.
 
Roger Hird said:
I've used AVG's free product happily for a couple of years on my WinXP
desktop.

After Christmas WinXP crashed with a file corruption (and without a decent
backup) so I had to reinstall it - and all my software.

During this I downloaded the AVG free product - and THOUGHT I had
installed it. It is certainly in my "program" menu - AVG 7.5 - with icons
for AVG Control Centre, Test Centre, virus vault and uninstall - but it is
not clear that it is running. I can't find it on the task bar - or find
any sign of it in task manager - and if I click on the Control Centre icon
in the program menu I get the message "Could not initialize AVG Anti-virus
kernel interface. Application cannot run."

My thought was to uninstall AVG and start again with a new download but
when I click the "uninstall AVG" icon I get a window with a longish check
on system status, then an "uninstall failed! - 1 error" window - and the
error is "Uninstallation not possible. Product not installed".

My query is whether I can just ignore the "phantom" installation, download
AVG again and install the new copy - or should I try to do something about
the un-installed AVG in my programs menu. Any ideas out there?
Click to expand...
Try using Revo Uninstaller http://www.revouninstaller.com/
It does a deep down clean, then re-instal AVG if you have a mind to.
 
Roger Hird wrote:
: I've used AVG's free product happily for a couple of years on my WinXP
: desktop.
:
: After Christmas WinXP crashed with a file corruption (and without a
: decent backup) so I had to reinstall it - and all my software.
:
: During this I downloaded the AVG free product - and THOUGHT I had
: installed it. It is certainly in my "program" menu - AVG 7.5 - with
: icons for AVG Control Centre, Test Centre, virus vault and uninstall
: - but it is not clear that it is running. I can't find it on the
: task bar - or find any sign of it in task manager - and if I click on
: the Control Centre icon in the program menu I get the message "Could
: not initialize AVG Anti-virus kernel interface. Application cannot
: run."
:
: My thought was to uninstall AVG and start again with a new download
: but when I click the "uninstall AVG" icon I get a window with a
: longish check on system status, then an "uninstall failed! - 1 error"
: window - and the error is "Uninstallation not possible. Product not
: installed".
:
: My query is whether I can just ignore the "phantom" installation,
: download AVG again and install the new copy - or should I try to do
: something about the un-installed AVG in my programs menu. Any ideas
: out there?

I just went through this on a Win98SE machine. I was able to uninstall it
by downloading the latest version from the AVG site and then running it in
uninstall mode. The uninstall went fine and I was able to reinstall it with
the same downloaded program.

Larry
 
Roger said:
I've used AVG's free product happily for a couple of years on my WinXP
desktop.

After Christmas WinXP crashed with a file corruption (and without a decent
backup) so I had to reinstall it - and all my software.

During this I downloaded the AVG free product - and THOUGHT I had
installed it. It is certainly in my "program" menu - AVG 7.5 - with icons
for AVG Control Centre, Test Centre, virus vault and uninstall - but it is
not clear that it is running. I can't find it on the task bar - or find
any sign of it in task manager - and if I click on the Control Centre icon
in the program menu I get the message "Could not initialize AVG Anti-virus
kernel interface. Application cannot run."

My thought was to uninstall AVG and start again with a new download but
when I click the "uninstall AVG" icon I get a window with a longish check
on system status, then an "uninstall failed! - 1 error" window - and the
error is "Uninstallation not possible. Product not installed".

My query is whether I can just ignore the "phantom" installation, download
AVG again and install the new copy - or should I try to do something about
the un-installed AVG in my programs menu. Any ideas out there?
Click to expand...

I personally do not like installing over top of a defective
installation, but others may disagree. Anyhow, Windows Uninstall never
in my experience has ever done a clean job, and most uninstall applets
included with programs haven't done so either. The reason is that if the
program is referenced by a registry key, some part(s) of it may be
locked, even if they are not running. A locked program module can cause
problems when reinstalling. So the trick is to get rid of all traces of
it. This is what I do, and so far I've had no subsequent problems:

If you installed AVG, there will be as folder for it. Delete everything
in it. There may be some files that won't delete - these ar the ones
mucking up your system. Run a registry cleaner, reboot, delete
whatever's left in the AVG folder, and delete the AVG folder. Run the
registry cleaner again, and reboot. At this stage, there should be no
trace of AVG left, but you could run regedit and Search for 'avg'. Any
keys it finds should be deleted. Reboot, download a fresh copy of AVG,
and install it.

BTW, the registry cleaner will find a lot of invalid keys. Let it clean
them all. I my experience, this has never done any harm -- I run my
registry cleaner about every two weeks.

HTH
 
I personally do not like installing over top of a defective
installation, but others may disagree.
Click to expand...

Indeed - I can understand your point.

Everything does seem fine now, though: the original prob was reported on
28 Jan and I reported its apparent solution (pace the point you are
making) on 29 January.

There's been no obvious problems since then but your comments give me a
lot to think (worry!) about.
 
Roger said:
Indeed - I can understand your point.

Everything does seem fine now, though: the original prob was reported on
28 Jan and I reported its apparent solution (pace the point you are
making) on 29 January.

There's been no obvious problems since then but your comments give me a
lot to think (worry!) about.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your kind comments, I just subbed this NG yesterday, and
should've looked at the posting dates before replying.

FWIW, I've learned a lot already, and have removed at leasst one baddie
I didn't know about before.
 
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